And There Was Another
by Obsidian Productions
Summary: After barely surviving a brutal crash on Taris and somehow escaping with his life, a Republic soldier with nothing left to live for is tasked by the Jedi to help in a Great Hunt. As he begins traveling the galaxy with an unlikely group of allies, Seth Kast takes the first steps on a path that will change his life forever. A KOTOR fan fiction.
1. Chapter 01: Hard Landing

Seth Kast opened his eyes to a rusted, corrugated ceiling, and was surprised to be opening his eyes at all.

For several moments, he remained still, waiting for a cascade of pain to hit him like a tidal wave, but he felt nothing save for a general yet vaguely distant ache across most of his body. As he allowed himself a small ration of hope and belief in the fact that the pain was not going to strengthen into saw-edged agony, thoughts began to drift across the vast, almost wholly blank expanse that was his mind, like ships sailing in perfect quietude across the infinite starscape he sometimes saw when he looked out the windows on whatever starship he was serving on.

He was supposed to be dead.

The battle aboard the _Endar Spire_ had been going horribly. He had a flash of fighting through the steel corridors that snaked through the large Republic vessel, surrounded by the dead and the dying, exchanging volleys of blaster fire with men and women in shining silver suits, their faces hidden entirely behind mirrored visors. The effect made them eerily insectile, almost closer to droids than beings of flesh and blood. Or, when the fighting got too close for comfort, sparks would fly as metal met metal in vicious sword fights.

A voice came to him from somewhere nearby, a strange voice that spoke with a curious cadence and an oddly wet, guttural quality. Although he could tell they were speaking Galactic Basic, he could not make out the words, nor place the species.

Where was he?

His train of thought momentarily derailed, Seth instead focused on gathering clues from his surroundings. He heard that same voice, and, as he focused, others, somewhere nearby. No one was shouting, no orders were being given. Just quiet talk. He could smell something now, as well, a bad smell. Garbage, old meat, overcooked food, a faint whiff of kolto, and something else. Something he couldn't quite identify, but definitely something bad, whatever it was. Slowly, Seth propped himself up on one elbow, waiting for the pain to flare up.

It did, a bit, but not as much as he was afraid it might.

He was avoiding looking at his body, which was almost entirely covered in a tattered old threadbare blanket. He was in a simple shack with a doorway and small window cut out of the basic corrugated metal plates, neither of them able to be closed, given there was no glass, nor no actual door. And wherever he was, it must be night. He saw no sunlight, just an ugly white artificial light. Thoughts began to crowd in again, but once more they were batted away by the situation at hand: the voices had fallen silent…

Footsteps were drawing closer to him now.

A shadow fell across the doorway. Seth clenched his fingers, feeling his body tense up beneath the old blanket.

Who was coming to see him? Friend or foe?

A selkath stepped into the shack. "Oh, you're awake." A female, he assumed at least. This was the voice he had heard speaking earlier. She shifted closer to him and he saw that yes, she was a female. She had tendrils hanging from the back of her head and he remembered that this is what differentiated the two genders of the aquatic race, some factoid he'd picked up out there in the galaxy, serving the Republic.

"Who are you?" he asked.

She came to stand beside the bed he was laying in, studying him. "My name is Serilda. I saved your life. Well, I helped. You can call me Seri," she replied, reaching out and pulling the blanket back with that same kind of detached manner that most doctors seemed to have. He sighed, realizing that he was almost naked beneath the blanket, but made himself relax.

He didn't think she was hostile.

"Thank you," he replied, then coughed. His throat was dry.

"You are welcome. And thirsty." She turned and crossed the room, then crouched by a battered gray footlocker. Unlatching it, she propped it open and began rooting around in it. Seth looked around the room. There wasn't much in it, although he could see a table scattered with medical supplies. Some of it looked pretty old and dirty.

She stood suddenly and returned to his side with a battered canteen. "Drink," she said, passing it to him. He accepted it, unscrewed the cap and did so. The liquid inside was water. It was warm and left a bad aftertaste, but he drank half of it anyway, then re-screwed the cap and passed it back to her. She set it on a small table, like a nightstand, beside him.

"Where am I?" he asked, wiping his mouth on the back of his hand and sitting up fully. He half expected her to try and restrain him, as most medics seemed wont to do when patients tried to get up before they had been told to do so, but she simply took a step back, studying him.

"Taris," she replied.

He didn't recognize the name. But, then again, there were thousands upon thousands of worlds in the galaxy. He recalled seeing it from orbit, when the vessel he was aboard was being slaughtered by the Sith, brought down like some great sea beast. The planet looked like it was covered in a cityscape, like Coruscant.

"What happened to you?" Seri asked.

Seth groaned as he got to his feet. Definitely pain there, and looking down at his body now, nude save for a pair of boxers, he saw ugly red regions across his scarred skin. Burns, healed by kolto. It was miracle-working stuff, but he'd be raw and a bit sore for a few days yet. Well, Seth had a lot of experience with ignoring pain.

"I'm a solider with the Republic," he murmured, slowly raising his arms, flexing them, testing them, seeing what kind of range of motion he had and popping his stiff joints as well. It felt like he'd been out for way too long. "The ship I was serving on, the _Endar Spire_ , got into a battle with the Sith overhead. They won and I..." he hesitated. He remembered fleeing the ship, heading for the pod bay. He'd gotten there, seen a few others getting into the last pod, and then something behind him had exploded…

"I escaped. Were there any other survivors in the pod you found me in?" he asked.

"I didn't find you, Nova did. But no, she said you were the only survivor," Seri replied, shaking her head regretfully.

"Have there been any other pods?" he asked, twisting his back and listening to it pop, relieving the tension that had built up there.

"I'm afraid not, not as far as I know. Though I imagine most of them would have landed in the Upper City. It's amazing your pod got down as far as it did," she replied.

"The Upper City..." he murmured, then walked to the window and looked out it. He saw more ramshackle structures, and the spaces in between them were all dirt with what looked like sickly weeds growing up out of it. Glancing up, he did not see sky, as he expected, but instead of huge expanse of old gray metal, illuminated only by rows of distant lights. "Where are we?"

"The Undercity, I'm afraid," Seri replied.

He didn't like the sound of that. But he had more important things to consider. As he stood there, his mind finally coming back online, priorities began to manifest inside his skull, and he felt the press of time and responsibility.

"How long was I out?" he asked.

"About a day and a half," Seri replied.

He sighed, shaking his head, frustrated. Too long. "Do you know where the nearest Republic outpost is? Or communications center? I really need to get in touch with my superiors, let them know what's happened."

"I'm afraid there are no Republic outposts on this planet," Seri said.

Again, that regretful tone. He turned to face her. "What do you mean?"

"This planet is completely under Sith control."

Seth felt his insides twitch, felt a small depth charge of anxiety drop deep into his guts and detonate soundlessly.

Threatening more than just anxiety to rear its ugly head.

No.

He twisted on his self control, settling it rigidly back into place. Over a decade as a solider, he wasn't going to freak out now. Although...damn, trapped behind enemy lines, injured and without any kind of weapons or backup, all alone…

It was a bit of a nightmare scenario.

"I have to get off this planet," he said finally.

"We'd all like that, I think," she murmured.

"What do you mean?"

She sighed. "It's complicated. Right now, you need clothes. And I imagine you'll want to talk to Nova," she replied, moving over to the table that sported all the medical supplies. He realized that he'd missed something in his initial sweep of it: a stack of clothes and a pair of boots. They had burn marks on them. His boots. Well, at least they managed to salvage those.

"My uniform?" he asked, although he imagine he knew the answer.

"We had to cut it off of you. Lots of blood, burns where the armor failed," Seri replied, grabbing the clothes and bringing them to him.

"Thank you. My armor?" he asked, beginning the painful process of getting dressed again. All he had for clothes now was a gray, sleeveless shirt and old, faded beige cargo pants.

"Nova has it. She made repairs to it and she's been using it for her runs."

"Runs where?"

"Out into the Undercity. It's dangerous out there, and she figured that you weren't going to be using it for the moment."

Seth finished tightly lacing up hits boots, then stood. "Fair enough," he replied. "Take me to Nova."

"This way."

Seri led him outside.

* * *

Outside was a relative term.

Stepping out of the door behind Seri, Seth found himself in an open courtyard, fringed by more ramshackle structures that looked like they'd been cobbled together, and not by particularly skilled individuals.

He looked up again and saw that yes, that really was an artificial ceiling up there in the sky, maybe a hundred, perhaps a hundred and fifty feet up. So, if the planet was indeed covered pole-to-pole in a cityscape, then he must be under it.

The Undercity indeed.

Seri led him out of the small cul-de-sac and into a broader area littered with more structures. None of them were above one story. Off to the left and behind him, where he'd come from, he could see huge walls of dark metal rising up, forming a corner.

"What is this place?" he asked as he followed Seri.

He saw people now, moving among the shacks. They were all filthy, wearing torn, dirty clothes. They all looked malnourished or ill, and hopeless. They moved slowly, a kind of mournful despair etched onto their pale faces. Most of them were human, but he saw a few twi'leks and an ithorian mixed in with the lot.

He'd seen slums and ghettos before, but this looked more like a refugee camp made in the midst of a brutal conflict that had been going on for years.

"Taris is divided up into three sections," Seri replied as she led him on. "The Upper City is where the rich and privileged live. The humans."

"There's no privileged non-humans?" he asked.

"Not on Taris. Some twi'leks and maybe the odd ithorian, but otherwise no. Racism is alive and thriving on Taris. The Lower City is ruled by gangs. Not awful, a bit dangerous, but generally livable. Generally. This, however, is the Undercity. This is where convicts and exiles live. Where the unwanted are cast. A lot of them are the children of a whole generation that was exiled down here after an attempted rebellion decades ago when the poor rose up to tear down the rich. It didn't work and the survivors were tossed down here."

"What a nightmare," Seth muttered. "And no one...stopped it? No one lets them up? You're born down here and you stay down here?"

"Yes," Seri replied.

That didn't sound right, but...certainly worse atrocities had been committed in the Republic's long and patchwork history. And they were pretty far out there, not exactly on the Outer Rim, but definitely nowhere near the Core worlds, so he supposed he could imagine that the Republic authorities would overlook or perhaps not even be made aware of something like this. Especially lately, with the conflict with the Sith that had come hot off the heels of the war with the damned Mandalorians. It seemed like they couldn't catch a break.

"So Nova can help me?" he asked.

"Well, if anyone down here can, she can," Seri replied. "She and Yex are the ones that have kept us all alive and in as much comfort as we're currently in. I suppose I've helped a fair amount too, when I can."

"Yex?"

She pointed out the ithorian he had spied. He was seated at a table scattered with old tools and oily spare parts, pondering over them. "He fixes things. I fix people," Seri explained.

"What does Nova do?"

"She heads out into the Undercity to find us much needed supplies, and she hurts those that would try to hurt us."

"She sounds tough, and dangerous," Seth murmured.

"She is," Seri confirmed. "Here. In there."

They came to stand before another of the shacks that looked a bit more well put together than the rest. It even had a piece of metal covering up the window hole that looked like it could be raised or lowered. And a door.

Not many of these places seemed to have a door.

Well, time to meet this Nova.

Seth walked up to the door and knocked.


	2. Chapter 02: Welcome To Taris

"Whatever it is, make it quick," a female voice called.

Seth took that to mean he could come in and opened the door. It opened smoothly enough, though it creaked loudly as it did. He slipped into the shack and took it all in with a sweep of his sharp gaze. A cot and small table tucked into one corner, a small chemical toilet and what might have been a makeshift washbasin across from it. (Looking at the toilet made him realize he had to piss very badly. He ignored that, too.)

The other half of the shack sported a battered metal table, a tall, slim, dented locker, and an old plasteel cylinder. The occupant was presiding over the table, making repairs to what he recognized as his own armor. Silver and tan Republic mod armor. She was a twi'lek, wearing a formfitting black jumpsuit over a deep blue skin. She wore heavy boots and had a dagger on one hip and a blaster pistol on the other.

She glanced at him. "Oh, you're up. And you're welcome."

"Thanks for saving me," he replied, a little stiffly.

Saying thank you, even when it was completely justified, had always been difficult for him, even from a young age. It wasn't until he was older that he realized just why he was so uncomfortable with this simple and reasonable act.

It was like a tiny surrender.

"You're welcome. Sorry about your friends. I'm Nova," she said, turning back to his armor.

"Seth," he murmured. "Can I have my armor back?"

Now she stopped working on it and turned fully to face him. "Planning on going somewhere?" she asked.

"I was hoping you could tell me where a good place to go might be," he replied.

"Afraid there aren't too many of those on Taris, at least not down here," she said.

"I need to confirm that I was the only survivor. There should have been at least two other people in that pod with me," he said, only remembering seeing two other soldiers getting into the pod, them turning to face him, raising their rifles as he materialized through the smoke, then lowering them upon recognizing him as an ally, beckoning him closer.

Then the world turning to white-hot pain.

"There were three bodies in the pod," Nova replied, "all of them wearing armor like this. They were certainly dead." She paused. "I'm sorry. I thought you were dead, too, but you weren't. Just burned badly and knocked out." She paused again, now looking frustrated, and she seemed to be trying to temper herself, calm herself. "There was kolto in that pod with you, Seth. Do you have any idea how rare kolto is down here? It's as crucial to us as a pressure suit in space. I had to use almost all of it to keep you from dying, and to bring you at least up to fighting power."

"Why?" he asked.

"Because you owe me for that. For saving your life and putting all that kolto to use. You're a veteran, not some rook fresh out of the academy, and I'm guessing you've got skills to match. I saw your scars. I desperately need another fighter down here," Nova explained, staring hard at him now, holding his eyes with her intensely blue ones.

"I don't intend to stay here," he said, worrying that she was asking him to join their wretched little settlement beneath the city.

"Neither do I," she replied. "Will you help?"

He considered it for a moment. He couldn't stay here, he had to find some way off of Taris, or, at the very least, some way to get in touch with the Republic.

"I need to get off Taris," he replied simply. Not exactly a no, but definitely not a yes.

"Don't we all?" she asked. "But that isn't an answer."

She stared at him. He stared back. Finally, she sighed. "I don't have time for games," she said, "so I'll just make you a deal. I know a way that we can get off this planet, even with the damned Sith blockade fleet in orbit."

"That's a tall order," Seth replied, suspicious. "And even if you had access to that, then why haven't you left?"

"Because it's not ready yet."

"What is it?"

"I'm not telling you, not yet. You're just going to have to trust me," Nova said, crossing her arms, her voice hardening. "The deal is this: you help us out, we help you escape Taris."

He studied her. Despite her hard demeanor and gruff manner, he didn't sense any deception from her, and he'd gotten good at reading people. No, Nova was desperate, but not because she was trying to deceive him, at least he thought so.

Well, what choice did he have?

He could leave, strike out on his own, but he knew nothing about this world. There could be anything down here in the Undercity. And although he was indeed up to fighting power, as Nova had put it, he certainly wasn't in tiptop shape. Even now he felt weakened, exhausted, starving, in pain. As much as it pained him to admit it, he very likely needed Nova, and Seri as well. But maybe most important of all, underlying this like hard bedrock, he did feel the call to help these people, because this was a place that stank not even of poverty, but of true misery, true hopelessness. Could he walk away from that?

No, he didn't think he could.

"Deal," he said finally.

She relaxed, though only slightly. He had an idea that trust came slowly to Nova. But there was something he had to do first, partially for logical reasons, partially for personal. "I want to get to my pod before we do anything else," he said.

She nodded. "I was thinking the same thing. I salvaged what I could, but hauling your heavy ass back here meant I had to leave a lot of it behind," she said.

"You dragged me here by yourself?" he asked.

"Yes," she replied simply, then stepped over to her locker and opened it up. A suit of basic combat armor, faded red-orange in color, hung there. She began to pull it on.

She must be strong.

Seth moved silently over to the table and looked over his armor. It looked like crap, but clearly she'd made some repairs to it, and it would get the job done. He began pulling the scratched silver armor on over his new, or strictly speaking old, clothing, wincing at the raw pain it elicited from his abused body.

"How bad was I?" he asked as he worked, trying to ignore the pain.

"Bad," Nova replied flatly. "You would have died had I not been there and there was not a good reserve of kolto in the pod with you. I had to patch that armor up a great deal, as whatever fire you encountered burned through it. Your back got the worst of it."

He grunted, knowing that to be true as he finished getting the chestpiece on.

"You hit your head pretty hard, too. Seri wasn't sure you were going to make it."

"Glad I did," he muttered, although even he felt like that was said sarcastically. Not that he'd meant it come out that way. Nova didn't comment. Had he wanted to die in the battle aboard the _Spire_? This far into the war, it was hard to say.

Right now, he wasn't sure what he was feeling.

But that wasn't anything new, was it? And at the end of the day, Seth knew that he had to, above all else, act.

So that was what he intended to do.

Finishing pulling on his armor, he reflected that he at least felt calmer, a little better. Having a clear objective, even something as simple as getting to his pod, had begun the process of smoothing his frayed nerves and rattled brain. The two of them finished pulling on their respective suits of armor. As he finished, Seth's hand fell to his hip, his holster that came with the armor's belt. It was empty. He sighed softly.

"Where's my pistol?" he asked.

"I didn't have a chance to grab any arms," Nova replied curtly. "Just medicine and some water. But here, you can borrow one of mine for now."

She passed him a simple old blaster pistol. He accepted it, and the two energy cartridges as well, and checked it over. The power level looked good, the sights looked fine, despite its battered, old appearance.

Was anything new or fresh down here?

He supposed not. The Undercity seemed to be a world of hand-me-downs and old refuse. "What kind of hostilities can I expect?" he asked, his mind latching onto the needed details of the situation at hand.

"Bad ones," Nova replied, passing a large backpack to him. "There are creatures down here called rakghouls. Very dangerous. Besides the fact that they're fast and have big claws, you get cut by one, there's a decent chance you'll become infected with a virus that turns you into one. And fairly quickly, at that."

"Damn," he muttered, feeling a real shiver of fear tremble down his spine. He'd been shot, stabbed, beaten to a pulp and, now, set on fire. He'd lived through a few bad viruses, puked his guts up more than once. It kind of came with the territory. But a virus that turned you rapidly into a monster? That was a new one.

He shrugged into the backpack. "There's no cure?" he asked finally.

"Supposedly there is, but I doubt we'd find it down here, even if it does exist," Nova replied bitterly.

"How long have you been down here?" he asked.

"Me? Two months," she replied. She finished pulling on her armor. "Come on, this is their down time. I think the rakghouls mostly sleep around now, so we need to take advantage of the situation while we can."

He nodded and finished securing his own gear, pausing the grab a sword from the table he'd been eying as he'd geared up.

"You mind?" he asked.

"No," she replied, and left the shack.

He slipped it into a sheath, then tied it off to his belt. He practiced drawing the sword a few times as he headed out, then secured it and began moving after Nova. He sighed as his previous realization at how bad he had to take a leak resurfaced. "Hold up," he said awkwardly.

Nova stopped, twisting around. "What?"

"I, uh...need to piss," he muttered.

She laughed. "Just go behind the shacks. Hurry up."

"Got it."

Feeling strangely embarrassed, he moved back behind her shack and found a small alleyway of space between the back of the shack and a wall of metal and wood and other random bits of material that looked like it had been built up over generations. He saw a whole mess of stuff in there, different colored metal, what looked like the hull of a fighter jet in one area. Trying to ignore the weirdness of the situation, Seth relieved himself, taking longer than he thought he was going to. He supposed he'd been holding it in for over a day and a half by now. Finally, he finished up and headed back around, rejoining Nova.

The humor he'd seen earlier had left her face, and as he looked around the settlement as they made their way through it, moving between makeshift lean-tos and haphazardly constructed shacks, he knew that good humor was probably as rare as kolto down here. As he looked at the denizens moving slowly around the area, Seth found himself coming up against a vast mental wall. He simply couldn't imagine living down here for his entire life. He'd grown up in poverty, but closer to what Seri had described the Lower City above them as.

This?

This was...something else entirely. This was despair. Bleak, melancholic, desolate despair. Had any of them even seen the sun before? Had they felt rain? Or a breeze? He was willing to bet that they hadn't. And that was just…

Soul crushing.

In a way, he found that somewhat absurd. How many atrocities had he seen? How many lives had he taken? Witnessed taken? How much of the horrible carnage of war had he looked at? And yet here he felt vaguely ill at the notion of someone who had never glimpsed the sun or felt the deeply comforting patter of chilled rain on their face.

Maybe that hit to the head had done more damage than he'd initially assumed.

Or maybe he was just sick of all this crap.

He caught up with Nova. "Are there any other threats besides the rakghouls?" he asked.

"People," she replied. "Sometimes the Sith come down here for whatever reason, although it's pretty rare. The gangs come down here, too. They're the biggest threat. They grab exiles for slavery occasionally, or to sell to the Exchange, or just use us for target practice."

Seth felt his control slip a notch, that eternal ember of anger that seemed to smolder always at his core flaring. He clenched his fists and reigned in control.

"Seri said you hurt people," he said.

"I do. Anyone who threatens us. I kill the gang members where I can find them. The main gang call themselves the Dreks. They're the only ones that really give us any trouble. They're stupid, but there's a lot of them."

"Got it."

"Other than that, nothing else I've come across. But you should be wary anyway. Just treat the Undercity like a live battlefield and you'll do fine...here we are."

They came at last to a large mesh gate that looked like it was made of pretty stern stuff. It was a good twelve feet tall, roughly in line with the wall on either side of it. A man and a woman, both of whom looked fairly tough among what he'd seen so far down here, wearing basic combat armor and holding blaster pistols with swords on their hips, stood by the gate.

"Going out, Nova?" the woman asked.

"Yep. We're going back to his pod for more supplies," she replied.

The man, in the meantime, had moved over to a makeshift ladder lashed to the wall beside the gate. He climbed up it slowly.

"Hope none of the other assholes have gotten there," the woman muttered. She looked at Seth. "I'm Sally, by the way. He's Zacden."

"Seth," he replied.

"I'd tell you that you're lucky to be here but, well...you're _here,_ " she said.

Zacden reached the top of the ladder and spent a moment surveying what lay beyond. "It's clear," he said, moving back down.

"I'm hoping to leave Taris," Seth replied to Sally.

"Aren't we all?" she replied dismissively.

"Well-"

Nova bumped him as she stepped closer to the gate. He glanced at her. "You wanna open it up?" she asked.

"Sure," Sally replied, turning away.

Nova looked at him and gave a short but hard shake of her head. So, for whatever reason, she didn't want him mentioning...their deal? An escape plan? He just faced forward and remained silent. There were questions, but they could wait for now.

The gate began rattling open, sliding slowly on a track along the wall. Seth felt a strange calmness settle over him like a familiar tunic. Nova was right. He was going into a battlefield, and he needed to treat it as such.

Although he felt that he was crap at a lot of things in life, fighting was at least something he knew how to do. And more than that, staying alive in a hostile environment. So he took a moment to check over his armor, his weapons, himself, once more.

As soon as he felt certain, he began walking out of the gate with Nova.

Once they were clear, it rattled shut behind them.


	3. Chapter 03: Into the Under

"The pod is this way," Nova said, leading him off to the left, towards a path that led in between an enormous pile of garbage and metal refuse and a large, blocky metal structure that looked old and bombed out.

"Any reason you didn't set up in there?" Seth asked as he followed.

"I got here very late to the game, if you'll remember. But based on my own investigation of that building, it's got a very big hole in the other side and a lot of broken windows. Plus, I think, at this point, they've got some pride in their parent's work, and their own. You know how long it takes to build something like that settlement back there? Years. Decades, even. And, I mean, at this point, there's too much good stuff jacked into that camp to just move."

"Like what?"

"Piping, for one. The ability to have clean water down here is life or death, obviously. We managed to rig an old irrigation system to bring water from a filtration plant to that camp. Not a lot, obviously, and recently it's shut off. So that's number two on the list of things to do today: check out the filtration plant. Going to need your help with that. Another big thing: we've managed to tap into the power grid. They had a really jury-rigged connection set up that failed more often than not before Yex showed up. Now he's got a real, stable connection going. Of course, can't take too much or someone up top notices." She shook her head and sighed.

They hit the alleyway and moved down it. Both of them had their pistols out by now. Seth made sure it was charged and ready to go one more time. Never could be too sure. He'd seen people die in battle over pretty stupid mistakes. The alleyway opened up into a broader area, something like a natural courtyard edged by more mountains of garbage an old, derelict structures with broken windows and rusted out walls.

A few corpses lay scattered across the dirt, some of them very old, some of them fairly recent, all of them picked clean of anything even remotely useful.

Nova broke right and moved towards another alleyway.

"Why are you down here?" he asked as they moved on, his curiosity piquing. Everything about Nova spoke of intense training, devotion to survival, and a keen awareness of her surroundings. She didn't belong down here. "What's your story?"

"You first," she replied.

He couldn't help but laugh. "I mean, I thought it'd be obvious why I'm down here."

"Smartass," she muttered, but he thought he could hear at least a small smile in her voice. "I mean, what happened overhead? The war, how's it going?"

What little good cheer he'd managed to accumulate disappeared like oxygen blown out of a depressurized room. "Badly," he said quietly. "It's going badly." He looked around suddenly. "Should we be talking?"

"We keep our voices down, we should be fine. This place is relatively untouched by the Dreks, and rakghouls have crap hearing. Mostly they operate by sight."

"Fair enough..." he murmured, looking around one more time before they took another left and headed down a broader valley of garbage, lit by pale lamps somewhere high overhead. "The Sith are winning. They're kicking our ass left and right. They have numbers, but we have no idea where they're coming from. I lost the last six battles I was in," he said.

"Damn...that bad?"

"That bad. I'm not entirely sure we can win this one, not unless something big changes. I mean, I heard they finally put Revan down, but Malak is still leading the fight."

"Who are they? To be honest, my knowledge of the war is 'assholes in silver armor are killing people by the millions'."

"Fallen Jedi," Seth replied bitterly. He spat. "They were the ones who went rogue and led an army of like-minded Jedi against the Mandalorians."

Nova growled. "Mandalorians...I _do_ remember them though, and at least I know of those Jedi. So...wait, they helped the Republic fight off the Mandalorians and then...what, they decided to pick up where the bloodthirsty bastards left off?"

"Basically."

"Why?" she snapped.

"No one knows. They 'fell to the dark side', whatever that means. Functionally speaking, it means we're getting our asses kicked after we already got our asses kicked and this time around there doesn't seem to be anyone else to bail us out." He sighed. "As for what happened to me...I'm a soldier, have been for twelve years. I was on a little planet called Thule, got called away from my base to investigate a disturbance out in the badlands beyond the camp's perimeter. Just me and a friend in a little all terrain vehicle. We got out there, found evidence of a camp. Someone had been camping out there where they weren't supposed to, probably panicked and bolted when they heard us coming. When we were coming back..."

He paused, not wanting to remember but being unable to stem the flow of memories, the litany of images that so vividly painted the death of over one hundred Republic military personnel, several of whom he'd been serving with for quite awhile at that point.

"The Sith firebombed the base. Everyone was killed. After the cleanup, I got rotated out, shoved onboard the _Endar Spire_ last minute. I didn't even figure out where we were going or what our mission was before we got jumped by some Sith battleships in orbit around Taris. I don't even know if anyone else made it off the ship. They boarded, started killing everyone. They were blowing pods out of the sky, I think."

"I'm sorry," Nova said quietly after a few seconds.

"Yeah, me too. That's life, I guess," Seth replied. "Your turn."

She was silent for several seconds more, then began speaking. "I'm not sure I want to tell you," she said finally.

"You don't have to if you want to, I was just curious."

She sighed and shook her head angrily. "It's humiliating."

"Well...sometimes it helps to talk about humiliating things to strangers. Would it help if I told you something humiliating about myself?"

She laughed. "I suppose..."

"Okay. I once got wasted and woke up the next day naked, in someone's bed that I didn't recognize, with a tattoo that I hated and never would've gotten in a million years. I swear my friends must've asked me specifically what's the last tattoo in the galaxy I'd ever get, then went and got it for me. Oh, and I'd pissed myself in my sleep."

She burst out laughing, then stopped short, looking around, no doubt paranoid that she'd garnered someone or something's unwanted attention, but they were in a confined space, a narrow alleyway now, and he didn't think anything was nearby.

"You made that last part up," she said finally, then laughed again, more softly.

"Nope. Soldier's honor. I had straight up pissed myself. And that's not even the most humiliating part," he replied.

She stopped and looked back at him. "Oh come on. What's worse than that?"

"The woman I'd apparently hooked up with kicked me out pretty fast and told me I hadn't been able to get it up that night."

Nova's eyes bulged slightly. "Was she lying?"

"Probably not. I don't, ah, function too well when I'm really piss drunk."

"Either you're lying or that is way too honest," she said, trying to contain her laughter again.

"Hey, I just said I thought it was a good idea to tell humiliating stories to strangers," he replied. "Kind of a relief to get it out, you know?"

"Fair enough. You don't seem all that embarrassed."

"Well, it was a good nine years ago. I thankfully never saw that woman or even that space station again. I got the tattoo removed. And I've, uh...reconfirmed that I can operate with at least a decent efficiency in the bedroom."

She snorted. "A 'decent efficiency'? Don't think I've ever heard it put quite like that."

"Seemed like the most diplomatic way to put it."

"Uh-huh..." She muttered something to herself after a span of silence. "Okay, fine. I came here looking for my cousin. I lost everything to the Mandalorians during their war. Or so I had thought. Parents, sister, thought my whole family was wiped out. After dealing with that particular tragedy, I ended up drifting the galaxy for quite awhile. Then I hear that I've got a cousin who wound up on Taris. Asks me to come see him, help him with something. So I did. After losing everyone else...I didn't realize how much the notion of seeing someone from my family again enticed me. I got here and right away he starts in with the 'can you loan me some credits?' sap story. I mean, when we knew each other before I knew he was a bit of a deadbeat, but I figured he'd got his stuff together by now. But no, he needed money, bad.

"And so while I was trying to do the right thing and help him get his life sorted out, he was making it really, really difficult. Wouldn't really give me any details of just who, exactly, he owed money to. Right about the time I began to suspect something more was happening..." She paused, gave her head another angry shake, making her head-tails twist in the air. "He'd borrowed credits from the Exchange. A lot. And the _real_ reason he'd tracked me down was so that he could trade me in as a slave and get his debt cleared.

"I killed the Exchange thugs that showed up looking for me and beat my cousin within an inch of his life. The only reason I didn't kill him was because I figured the Exchange would finish the job for me."

"That's not humiliating," Seth said quietly. "That's...sad. That's horrifically depressing."

"Yeah, it is. Anyway, I had to run, and with nowhere else to go, I ran down here. Ended up making it here to this camp and when I saw the people here, I just...I don't know, I couldn't leave them. I had to at least try to help them. Especially after I saw how much Yex and Seri were doing."

"Why are they here?"

"I'll let them tell you if they want," Nova replied. "We're almost to your pod."

Again, Seth found himself slipping into a bitter, angry despair as his escape pod came into view. That, and Nova's story, twisted his stomach. The pod's basic shape had held up pretty well. He hesitated as Nova marched forward.

"Good," she said, "no one's tampered with it. I closed the door after I grabbed you."

Seth made himself move forward. He had a job to do. They moved up to the pod and opened the door. It slid open, revealing a bloodied and ruined interior. He recognized two of the bodies in the pod. Those who must have helped him when the explosion had gone off behind him. Two more people who had saved his life. He saw a scattering of empty kolto containers and imagined Nova hastily covering his burns with the stuff, trying to keep him alive.

"Come on," she said, shrugging out of her pack, "let's grab whatever armor we can. Their weapons, too. And you know Republic pods, so if there's any hiding places I missed, then check them out."

"On it," he replied simply, getting out of his pack, too, and setting it on the plating beside her.

They moved about the wrecked interior of the pod in silence, working with the cold efficiency that came from those who had been around death too often. Seth did know a few places to check. A gun locker tucked away between two seats in the floor, an emergency medical cache behind a wall panel that she'd already raided, and where she got all the kolto from, and each of the six seats held a small compartment that came with a basic emergency package: spare blaster clips, a battery, some rations and water, some bare basic medical supplies, a few tools and spare parts.

"These," he muttered, yanking one out and studying the hefty, tightly-packed metal brick, "you are going to love these, Nova."

"What is it?" she asked.

"Emergency supply cache," he replied as he popped the chairs and grabbed the others, stacking them in his pack. He explained what they contained.

"These are going to be so useful," she murmured as she finished getting some armor off of one of the corpses.

He helped her recover enough armor for one more suit, a few more blaster pistols, and some spare energy clips scattered around. As soon as they were finished, they left the pod, coming back out into the clearing it had crashed into.

Nova held up one hand in a closed fist, making Seth freeze. He drew his blaster pistol and looked around.

"Do you hear that?" she whispered.

He listened carefully, at first hearing only the buzz of electricity. Then he heard it: a guttural growling cry somewhere not too distant.

"We need to go, now," Nova said, genuine fear creeping into her voice.

He didn't blame her.

They quickly began heading back the way they'd come, but another sound came from that direction, and suddenly something appeared in the narrow space.

Seth got his first good look at a rakghoul.

It was hideous.

He saw a hunched, grayish thing with a bulbous head sporting a small forest of individual thick black hairs. Large, dark claws sprouted from its feet and hands, shining in the light. Worst of all, he saw a big, hulking jaw. The thing opened its mouth and issued a sharp growl, revealing rows of jagged teeth that looked like they could do some serious damage.

"You've gotta be kidding me," Seth growled, then raised his pistol and fired off the overcharged shot he'd thumbed as soon as he'd heard the first growl.

The shot was good. The red bolt crossed the distance in no time at all and nailed the rakghoul directly in the face. Its head came apart like a ripe fruit and sprayed the area with dark gray, pulpy gore. A chorus of guttural screams sounded.

"We're stuck here," Nova growled. "Don't let them touch you. We'll have to kill them all."

"Perfect," Seth muttered.

He spotted movement to his left and took aim. Another rakghoul appeared over the top of a squat building, then it was joined by another two. He opened fire, managing to tag another one in its open, screaming mouth. But as it ragdolled down to the ground, the others leaped, dodging his blaster fire and hitting the ground running. Seth kept firing, hearing Nova doing the same beside him. He shot another in its eye and put it down.

Then the final one was too close. Seth dropped his blaster and ripped the sword out. He impaled the rakghoul through the chest, yanked it up, and then booted it hard away from him in one quick motion. The thing went flying a few feet and hit the ground hard. It wasn't dead. Seth hurried forward and planted the blade in its head, then ripped it back out in a spray of gore. He spun around, seeing no more of the rakghouls on his side, and saw Nova backing up, brandishing her own blade now. Three more were advancing on her.

He hurried beside her and fell into a defensive stance, waiting.

The rakghouls raced towards them.

They stepped apart from each other, to give themselves more room. Seth slashed viciously, bringing his blade around in a tight arc as the first beast reached him, and sliced its neck open. He heard another let out a death rattle as Nova killed it. Seth twisted, tracking the last one. It was coming for Nova.

She wasn't going to get it in time.

Without thinking, Seth dropped his blade and dove for it, tackling the inhuman thing to the ground, both of them rolling, the beast snarling. Pure luck: he ended up on its back, and the thing began to buck and heave, trying to get him off of it. He had one arm firmly around its neck. He saw a rock within reach and his hand shot out. Grasping it, he brought it up and then bashed the back of the thing's skull in. That made it stop thrashing.

He let out a long sigh.

"That was really stupid, Seth," Nova said as she walked over to him.

"I take it from your tone that we're alone again?" he replied, slowly getting to his feet.

"For now. We should go while we can," she said. "Are you cut?"

"No," he replied, checking himself over. "I'm good."

"Good, then...and, uh, thank you."

"Just returning the favor," Seth replied as he retrieved his pistol and sword.

Once everything was secure, the pair headed back the way they'd come.


	4. Chapter 04: The Filtration Plant

"Why didn't you want me talking about our deal?" Seth asked.

They were almost back to the settlement and, mercifully, no more rakghouls had appeared.

"They don't know that I might have found a way out of here," Nova replied. "And I don't want to get their hopes up, not until I'm completely certain."

"So you made that deal with me even though you weren't completely certain?"

"Yes. We need each other," she answered simply.

She had a point.

They managed to reach the gate to the settlement without incident, although twice Seth thought he heard distant blaster fire. He wondered how many dead lay down here, in unmarked graves, or abandoned where they had fallen. He hoped he wouldn't become one of them, if only so that he could see the rain again.

The gate began rattling open as they came close enough, and it reversed the process as soon as they were inside. Seth imagined they wanted to keep that thing closed as much as was possible. He followed her lead, and they threaded their way through the shacks and lean-tos until they came to a larger structure near the back of the encampment, one that Seth realized was not cobbled together, but actually looked like it had been built.

"What's this?" he asked.

"Original structure," Nova replied. "It's the most secure building we have, so we store most of our goods in it. It's also where the showers are."

He followed her to the door, where a pallid but grim-looking middle-aged woman stood guard. "Hello, Essale. We need in," Nova said.

"What have you got?" she asked, glancing at Seth.

"A lot. Medicine, food, water, tools, weapons. All thanks to him," Nova replied.

Essale's gaze lingered on Seth, as though sizing him up, then she seemed to relax. "Then I thank you," she said. "We've desperately needed some good luck around here lately."

"Glad I could help," he replied, uncertain of what else to say.

She opened the door for them and allowed them to pass. They came into a short corridor with two doors, one to either side.

"Showers are through there," she said, pointing to the left. "If we manage to fix the filtration plant, then I think you'll have earned one. This is what we want." She moved through the right door and flicked a switch.

Stark white light snapped into existence, revealing a room of lockers, tables, footlockers, and plasteel cylinders, yellowed with age.

"Let's unload, then we'll head out again," Nova said. "The filtration plant isn't that far."

Seth just nodded. He felt like utter garbage after the rush of adrenaline from battle had fully left him. His skin hurt in several places and he thought he might be bleeding from at least one area, but it didn't feel serious so he was ignoring it. Besides that, he was starving, and thirsty, and exhausted. He felt like he could sleep for another day and a half. But he simply shrugged out of his pack and emptied it of the emergency kits he'd grabbed.

"Gonna pass these out, drop by my shack, then we can go," she said after putting away most of the supplies, holding onto a pair of blaster pistols.

Seth followed her back outside. They moved through the encampment again, and as he watched her track down and arm two of the sturdier looking outcasts, he found himself wondering about the others onboard the _Spire_. How many had been there? He had heard that there were a few Jedi onboard, possibly a really important one, and he knew that Carth Onasi was aboard. He'd heard a few stories about the pilot and had a vague kind of hope of bumping into the man, though he usually didn't go looking for popular people.

He wondered if Carth had made it out alive, or any of those Jedi.

What he wouldn't give for that kind of backup right now.

Although it was obvious that Nova was a great fighter and a survivor, and she seemed to have good intentions. Though admitedly he was curious about where she'd come across these skills. He pondered that as they finished passing out the blasters and dropped by her place. She didn't seem to be military. What else then?

Mercenary?

"Okay, now we go," she said after grabbing a few more clips for their blasters and splitting a canteen of water with him, which he'd gratefully drank his half faster than he probably should have. But damn he was thirsty.

Before long, they were back out through the gate and once more trekking off into the Undercity, towards the filtration plant.

"So, Nova," he said.

"Yeah?" she replied.

"What kind of work are you in?"

"Wondered when you'd ask."

"It's a fair question."

"I suppose it is. I'm a bounty hunter, if you must know. Although I haven't hunted any bounties for almost six months now. And for the record, I'm a _good_ one. And not just skilled, but I only hunt sick and evil bastards who deserve it. I'm not a 'no questions asked' soulless hunter like a lot of them out there."

"Okay...sorry if I offended you," he murmured, feeling agitation creeping into his skull again. Nova seemed to approach a lot of conversations from the notion of defending herself, and doing so angrily.

Then again, she clearly hadn't had the easiest life.

Especially lately.

"Sorry," she said flatly, and he suddenly had the idea that maybe she had trouble saying sorry just like he did. "It's just that bounty hunters have a crap reputation in the galaxy for the most part. I saw it as the best way to do some immediate good." She paused, then glanced at him. "Huh, I seriously expected you to throw out 'why not join the military?' in response to that."

"Well, I'd like to think I do some good in the military, and that on the whole we're a positive force, but just lately, I've been feeling a bit...disillusioned. Not really by the people I serve with, more in that it's feeling increasingly futile."

"Yeah..." she muttered glumly.

No one really wanted to imagine a galaxy ruled by the Sith.

"Well, if our short time together and the sheer fact that you've not only survived but thrived down here is any indication, then you must be a _very_ good bounty hunter," Seth said, trying to bring the mood back up. "The others sure seem to respect you."

"Thanks, though they respect anyone who steps up and assumes authority."

"Seri respects you."

"I respect her," she murmured. "She hasn't had it easy." Another few moments passed as they walked on through the sunless abyss that was the Undercity. "What about you? Why'd you join up with the Republic?" she asked.

He felt his body twitch in anger at the question, but made himself relax. His past was not something he particularly enjoyed sharing with people. Then again, Nova had shared with him, provided she was telling the truth, and if he was going to ask her to believe him, then it seemed only fair to return that trust.

"I grew up poor," he replied, "so when I was old enough, I signed up to escape the poverty."

"That seems like an oddly...truncated, sanitized way of explaining your past," she said.

"Yeah...it's...a sore subject."

"Fair enough."

"No, it's not. You just told me about your cousin trying to sell you into slavery. Mine's not even that bad, not even close, but to me personally, it's just..."

"It's a sore spot, I get it," Nova replied. "Besides," she continued as they neared the end of the trash alley they were traversing, "you're off the hook: there's the plant."

They came to stand at the mouth of the alley. Seth studied the area ahead of them. Another open section set in between decaying, partially-collapsed buildings. More bodies on the dirt, which was stained with old blood, red and gray. A random proliferation of trash seemed to gather and grow in impacted piles. The building that Nova had indicated, the filtration plant, stood directly across from them, and seemed to have largely withstood the test of time. They stood there together in silence, studying the structure.

"I don't hear or see anything," Nova murmured finally. "Let's go. Quick and quiet."

They crossed the courtyard smoothly, or at least as smoothly as Seth could manage in his present condition. The pair managed to hit the base of the building without incident. They waited, listening, but nothing had changed, no new noises.

"This way," Nova whispered.

She led him to the left, away from what he took to be the front side of the plant. They hugged the wall until they reached the corner. She paused, peered slowly around the edge, then waved him after her as she slipped around it. He followed and found himself in another narrow alley between buildings. It was darker back here, shadows gathering. It stank, too. Spilled blood. Nova kept going, then began to slow until eventually she stopped about a third of the way down the alley.

She crouched.

"What is it?" he murmured.

"Fresh kill. Rakghoul. Blaster shots took it out."

"So someone's been fighting here."

"Yep."

She stood again and kept going. He stepped over the gray corpse and followed her to a doorway that was partially open. It was the sliding kind that disappeared into a niche in the wall. She hit the button but the door remained only partially open. Sighing, she grabbed it and shoved. The door begrudgingly gave up a few inches of space, just enough to allow them to get through, though Seth had to really squeeze.

He bit back a grunt of pain as he scraped his back against the door frame trying to get in.

They had come to a dim hallway. There was still power, he saw, as some of the overhead lights were on, not that they provided much light.

"You smell that?" Nova whispered, her pistol raised now. It hummed gently with power.

"Yeah, burning metal. Blasters were fired here recently," he murmured.

"Blood, too. Shit, come on. No one's supposed to be here."

He had his own pistol out now, ready for action. They traversed the hallway and moved to the door at the end. This one was open. They settled on either side of the door. Nova counted down silently. On three, they moved into the doorway, Nova dropping to one knee to get out of his way if he needed to fire. But neither of them had to squeeze the trigger. Seth found himself looking out over an expanse of death and destruction.

What had to be the main entryway to the plant was a large, two-story rectangle of a room, the floor of which was riddled with bodies. Most of them were rakghouls but several were human and twi'leks. "Ah damn," Nova muttered as she regained her feet and moved slowly into the room, checking the area out.

Seth followed, sweeping the perimeter, but he saw no survivors. There were several places to hide though. He began to move around the room as Nova stepped up to one of the corpses and crouched by it.

"Who were they? Anyone you know?" he asked as he pointed his pistol into a recessed alcove that seemed home to some random, old piece of equipment. Nothing there. He moved on.

"Dreks," she said. "They've all got that stupid tattoo on their foreheads, above their right eye. Initiation into the gang. I'm glad they're dead."

She started patting the body down.

"What's their deal?" Seth asked, peering into another open doorway. Nothing here but an almost empty room that looked like it might have once been a break area.

"Same as most gangs, I guess. You get in when you've got nowhere else to go and you've got a hard on for power. Or the illusion of power, at least. They're into the slave trade, they're into extortion, they're into theft and murder, too, when it suits them. They do have a headquarters down here. And I plan to do something about that..."

"What, exactly?"

"Later. Are we secure?" she asked.

He finished his circuit of the room and completed his examination. "Seem to be," he replied. "Find anything interesting?"

"Just some credits and a blaster pistol," she replied. "Come on. I know where we need to go."

He nodded tightly, following after her. The smell of death was powerful. There had to be a dozen and a half corpses. She led him across the room, to the far left, where another door awaited them. Through it, up a flight of decaying stairs, down another corridor where most of the doors were closed and another few corpses were spread out along its length, and finally they had discovered their destination.

Nova stepped through one door that was open, frowning deeply.

"They must've figured out where the power was going," she muttered.

He stepped in and looked around the room. It was packed with old workstations, consoles, and complicated-looking pieces of equipment.

"What is this?" he asked.

"Control room for pump four," she said. "The one we discovered was still mostly functional. We redirected the flow and routed it to us. Well, I say we but I mean Yex. He'd already done that by the time I showed up. We only need power to this one room and the general structure itself. And...aw damn," she growled.

Something sparked and bled smoke.

He joined her in front of a large panel of switches and machinery embedded in the far wall. "Idiots," she muttered. "They must've come here and figured they could do the same thing we did. And then got jumped by rakghouls. And shot this in the process."

Sure enough, behind a desk was a dead Drek and a dead rakghoul.

"And, of course, I'm not going to be able to fix this," she growled. "Come on, we need Yex for this. Let's search all these morons, then head back."

They got to work.


	5. Chapter 05: Yex the Ithorian

"Why didn't Yex come with us?" Seth asked.

They were nearing the encampment again. A small clutch of rakghouls had made a go at ambushing them outside the filtration plant, but the things gave themselves away a mile off, telegraphing their approach without any real stealth.

They'd put them down with a few well-placed blaster shots.

"Yex and I are the only two serious fighters at the settlement," Nova explained. "One of us needs to be there at all times, in case anything tries to attack."

"Well that...certainly hinders your operational capacity," Seth muttered.

"You're telling me. Although now that you're here, we'll have a few more options. For now, though, I, uh...need you to go back to the filtration plant with Yex to watch his back."

Seth suppressed a sigh. He was seriously getting tired. "I hate to be a whiner, but I'm going to need a real break after this," he said.

"I know. I'm sorry I have to push you so hard after almost dying. You look like crap, honestly. Uh, no offense. But once you and Yex get back, you can have a long shower, a meal, and a good night's rest. And Seri will check you over again. And probably give you a shot of painkiller or something. You look like you need it."

"Is it that obvious?" he asked uncomfortably.

"No, actually. I'm just good at reading people. You're pretty tough."

"Well, some people get smart, some get lucky, some get looks. I got tough," he said. "Certainly didn't get anything else."

"You don't seem stupid or ugly," Nova replied. "I mean, you know, for the most part."

He laughed. "Gee, thanks."

"I'm good at giving out compliments," she replied.

They reached the gate and slipped through as soon as it was open. He followed her first back to the supply building, where they dropped off what they'd scavenged from the dead Dreks. He saw her open up a small gray hardcase and drop the credit chips they'd found in, then moved over and glanced inside. There were several more.

"That's a fair amount of credits," he murmured. "What use are they here?"

"Down here, not much," Nova replied, locking it back up. There had to be a few hundred credits in there. "But Yex can still go up top and barter for supplies. Usually for food and clean water, sometimes for medicine. It's mostly crap stuff in the Lower City, but it's definitely a step up from the junk we have to salvage down here."

"Wish I had some credits to donate to the cause," he murmured as they headed back out.

"You've already donated plenty," Nova replied.

They tracked down Yex, who was inside someone's shack, crouched over a tall, thin device, a battered silver toolkit on the floor beside him. An older couple sat deeper in the room together. "Hello, Nova," one of them, a woman with pale gray hair and a lined face, said, offering her a smile. "How are you doing?"

"I'm fine, Amentia. Thank you. How are you doing?" Nova replied.

"Can't complain," she said, but she sounded strained.

"This is Seth, the man from the space battle overhead," Nova said, awkwardly trying to fill the silence while Yex finished up whatever it was he was doing. "Seth, this is Amentia and Devern."

"Pleased to meet you," he said, while trying to come up with something else to say. Small talk had always been a failing of his, but under these conditions...what could you comment on? Not even that old mainstay the weather.

" _I am almost finished,_ " Yex said, and Seth was suddenly very grateful that he knew ithorian. Otherwise, working with Yex would probably be very difficult.

"We're doing good for supplies," Nova said. "Seth's pod was carrying medicine, food, water, a few weapons."

"That's a relief," Devern said. "Our crop isn't doing too well this time around."

"It isn't recovering?" Nova asked.

He sighed and shook his head. "No, they're still struggling. I think the soil's just too weak now. We need new soil. Either that or the single sunlamp we've got left isn't enough."

"I've been trying to find another, but..." Nova shrugged helplessly.

"It's okay. You've already done so much for us," Devern replied.

" _There,_ " Yex said suddenly, collecting his tools, snapping the kit close, and straightening up. The tall, slim machine he was working on began to hum softly. Seth thought it was some kind of filtering device. " _It should work fine now._ "

"Thank you so much, Yex," Amentia said, standing. She crossed the room and hugged him. Seth wasn't sure why, but he for some reason expected Yex to respond with awkwardness or uncertainty at the hug, but the ithorian simply returned the hug with a warm one of his own. Maybe Seth was just projecting.

" _You are very welcome, Amentia. Please, let me know if anything happens to it again._ "

"I will."

They said their goodbyes and left the shack.

" _What is the situation?_ " Yex asked as he led them to another nearby shack.

"Dreks got into the filtration plant. I think they're onto our setup there. Rakghouls attacked them and one of the idiots shot one of the main panels in the control room," Nova explained.

Yex paused outside of the shack, seeming to consider this. " _Unfortunate,_ " he replied finally.

"Yeah, I'll say," Nova muttered.

" _I will return shortly. Please wait here._ "

"You got it."

He disappeared into, presumably, his shack. Seth heard him moving around inside, shifting things. "So he's a tech and a fighter?" he asked.

"Yeah, though a tech first. He's extremely chill, even in a fight. I've seen him fight. He's like...he reminds me of a Jedi, I guess."

"Huh...what was he doing in there?" Seth asked, considering his new ithorian acquaintance.

"Oh, Amentia has lung problems. Something that'd probably be easy to fix if we had access to a decent medical facility, but all we can realistically do down here is treat it. I think it needs surgery to fix, which even Seri couldn't do here, not unless it was an emergency. Even then I doubt they'd survive. It's too filthy down here. But that was an air filtration unit. It helps her breathe." She sighed bitterly. "I hate this place so much. People down here suffering by the thousands, tens of thousands, more maybe. I have no idea how many are down here. And for what? How many of them are here because their grandparents launched a completely justified rebellion against the rich bastards? So many people down here don't deserve this."

"A lot of suffering is undeserved, I think."

"Makes me wonder about all that crap the Jedi are always spouting about the light side. If their Force is so great, why is this atrocity allowed to continue?"

Seth had no answer, because he had often wondered the same question.

Yex reemerged a moment later, now wearing some custom armor, a sword on a sheath down his back, and a pistol on his hip. He clutched a larger toolkit. " _I am ready to go._ "

"Perfect. Seth will go with you for backup. Do what you can."

" _I will. Watch over them._ "

"I will," Nova replied. "Good luck."

" _And you._ " Yex turned to look at Seth. " _Let us go, my new ally._ "

* * *

Seth had always found ithorians curious, but he liked them for whatever reason. He enjoyed their company where he found it. He studied Yex as they left the encampment and set off back towards the filtration plant. He looked like many of the ithorians he'd seen: dark gray skin, a somewhat humped back, a flattened head and neck with two large, dark eyes set on either side of his face. Some of the soldiers he'd served with called them hammerheads, something he was very embarrassed to admit, even to himself, that he had done as well.

Most of them, him included, didn't know it was a racial slur.

Not until one day, an ithorian medic he was serving with calmly informed him that the name was offensive, and that most ithorians felt this way. Seth hadn't used the term once since then, and had actually come close to getting into a few fights over it whenever he heard someone else use it. Seth knew that he had anger problems, and he could be difficult to deal with, but a thing he really couldn't tolerate was racism.

"So, uh, Yex, I'm kinda curious..."

" _As to how I entered into my present situation?_ " he asked, in that strangely deep, slightly vibrating voice of his.

"Yeah."

" _By choice._ "

"How's that?"

" _I have lived for many years now. I had excellent schooling. I have learned a great deal about technology. I can repair a ship as well as I can pilot it. As the years went on, I helped those I could wherever I could find them. Eventually, I came to realize that I was not doing enough. That I could be doing much more. And so I chose a deeply challenging location to try and help. Taris. I came here, to this settlement, and began working._ "

"So, you just...gave up your life and came here?" Seth asked, slightly aghast.

" _I do not think I gave up my life. I take my life with me. This is my life now. My life is where I am, what I am doing, who I am helping. I can do more immediate and obvious good here than I could in most of the jobs I worked,_ " Yex explained.

"That's...so much more than most people would do," Seth murmured.

" _I agree. I try to tell people that if everyone tried a little, few wouldn't have to try a lot. But most would rather not try at all._ "

"So you're, what, picking up the slack?"

" _I suppose that is what I am attempting._ "

"Man, that's really intense. I think even most Jedi might balk at that."

" _Perhaps. Although you may find that you underestimate Jedi._ "

"Perhaps," Seth murmured.

" _Something else is pestering you._ "

He glanced at Yex. "How can you tell?"

" _I am gifted with empathy."_

"There's a lot of people out there who would say that's a curse."

Yex considered this. " _Unfortunate,_ " he said.

Seth went on, since he'd asked him a question. "I was just curious about how they survive down here. Specifically, how they get food. They mentioned a crop in there."

" _Yes, there is a crop elsewhere in the colony. It is small and, unfortunately, the soil here is bad. It is difficult to find soil that can grow. And sunlamps are difficult to come across. Mostly, we survive off of old food caches discovered in the Undercity, or I trade in the Lower City. I would say that their largest hedge against starvation is their practice of malnutrition and stretching resources out. It is a very unfortunate situation."_

Seth just murmured in agreement.

He'd been there before. Not this bad, but he'd been in bad situations before.

They reached the filtration plant without too much trouble, opting to hide and wait the one time they'd thought they'd heard rakghouls nearby. As they headed inside, Seth looked over the area to make sure nothing had changed, and was glad to see that nothing had. The two of them moved across the lobby, through the stairwell, and down the corridors until they reached the pump control room. Yex immediately crossed the room after they had secured it and set his toolkit down on the table beside the panel.

He set to work.

"How is it?" Seth asked as he walked to the nearest window and looked out of it, over a landscape of sunless decay and rust.

" _Not as bad as it looks. But this isn't the real problem,"_ Yex replied.

"What's the real problem?"

" _They have apparently been able to determine the functionality of this structure, and this room. This is most unfortunate. I am not sure how we will deal with this. We cannot realistically post a guard here. I am going to have to think of some way to protect this room..."_

"Can you do that?" he asked.

" _I am not sure. For now, I will simply repair it and lock this room down."_

Seth just grunted in response. It was a stopgap at best. He kept watch as the minutes ticked by and began to fidget. His stomach rumbled. His skin hurt. So did his head now. After a long fifteen minutes, Yex finished up and snapped his toolkit closed.

" _There. It is done. We will have water again._ "

"We have a problem," Seth muttered.

" _What it is?_ "

"More Dreks, I think."

Yex joined him at the window. " _Yes. Those are Dreks..._ "

"Stay here and lock the room down best you can, or whatever it is you need to do to keep them out of here in the future. I'll go kill the others."

" _Very well. I will join you, with caution, when I am finished. Good luck._ "

"You too."

Seth hurried out of the room. He'd spied five of them moving in a loose group towards the filtration plant, talking loudly. They were all armed, though two of them had swords. Seth thumbed his pistol, setting up an overcharged shot. He hurried down the hallway. He was going to have to take them out quickly, and he had a way to do it. Seth hit the stairs and hurried down them, his pain and hunger and irritation fading for the moment.

He reached into his pocket and wrapped his hand around the fragmentation grenade he'd managed to find earlier while searching corpses. He held it firmly in his left hand, the pistol pulsing gently in his right.

He slipped into a dark alcove, hiding among the shadows.

The voices of the Dreks were clearly audible now, and getting louder.

He listened, hoping to pick up some kind of intel before he took them out.

"Hey, come on guys! What's taking you so long?! It's been hours!"

Footsteps, heavy and a bit lumbering. They were coming in through the front way. "Did you find what we were looking for?!" a new voice called. "Or was this a huge waste of time?"

A few laughs.

The footsteps slowly came to a stop. "Oh damn!" one of them snapped. "Rakghouls got them. I _knew_ this was stupid."

 _Come on, just a bit farther…_ Seth thought.

Finally, they came into the main room, looking out over the bodies. And they were afraid, which meant they were sticking together.

Otherwise known as grouping up.

Seth studied them as he waited for the perfect moment. They sure looked like a gang. Three humans, two twi'leks, all men, all dressed like crap, with those stupid tattoos above their right eyes. Like Nova had said.

"What are we going to do?" one of them muttered.

"We're going to see if anyone's still alive, then go back," another growled.

 _Fat chance,_ Seth thought, grinning.

He primed the grenade, waited a second, then chucked it right at them. About a fraction of a second before it landed, he aimed and fired. The overcharged shot took one of them, who Seth thought might be the leader, right in the head and burst it open, spraying the others with charred gore. They all shouted in anger and fear and shock, and completely missed the fact that a grenade had just landed in their midst.

Seth hid, covering his ears and squeezing his eyes shut.

He felt the burst of pressure as the grenade went off and waited for the rain of fragments and blood to subside. When it was over, he came out of the niche and surveyed the result of his assault. It was pretty effective.

They were definitely dead.

He heard footsteps drawing closer and turned to find Yex coming down the stairwell. The ithorian mechanic studied the carnage as well.

" _You are quite effective,_ " he said.

"Yep. How'd your work go?"

" _I locked the room down to the best of my ability, though I'm not sure how long that will keep,_ " Yex replied as they began leaving.

"I overheard them. They seemed to be debating about whether or not this was a good idea. Now that over twenty of them have died here, hopefully they'll decide it isn't worth the effort to keep coming here," Seth replied.

" _Indeed. We should return with haste. I believe the rakghouls will begin coming out in large numbers soon to feed._ "

Seth felt a shiver of real fear hit him again. "Yes," he agreed, "we should hurry."


	6. Chapter 06: A Long Day's End

Seth didn't think that he would be glad to see the miserable, ramshackle colony, but damned if he wasn't relieved and even a bit cheerful when the gate closed firmly behind him.

" _You did well, Seth. Thank you for your assistance. I look forward to working with you again,_ " Yex said as they moved deeper into the colony.

"Same, Yex. You're pretty great," Seth replied. He suddenly offered the ithorian his hand. Yex immediately clasped it and shook it.

" _You are a good man, Seth. I can sense it. Now, I must find my shack and eat. Tomorrow awaits us,"_ he said.

Seth nodded, his good mood only increasing. He wasn't sure if he was a good person or not, but he did feel confident that Yex was.

He watched him go, disappearing into the encampment. As he left, Nova took his place, coming to him with a bag, cinched at the top. "Here," she said, "another change of clothes. Um...what happened at the plant?" she asked.

"Yex fixed it. Some Dreks showed up. I killed them all. We should be good, for now. We're going to need a long-term solution," Seth explained.

Nova smirked suddenly. "I think I have one."

"What is it?"

"Later. You need to get a shower, some food, and some sleep. Go to the showers. Seri is waiting for you there," Nova replied.

"All right, um...thanks."

"No, thank you. You've helped out a _lot_ today. I'll meet back up with you tomorrow."

"Don't wake me up unless people are dying," he replied.

"We're all dying," Nova said. "But don't worry, no one will wake you unless it's a genuine emergency."

He nodded, then headed off, making for the shower area. He felt good, but he was definitely in pain, his muscles aching, his burns hurting, his head throbbing. A shower would go a really long way towards feeling better, though. A hot meal too. Although a hot meal was probably too much to ask for right now. At this point though, he'd settle for pretty much any food. He came to the structure housing the showers and storage room, nodded to Essale. She nodded back, let him in.

"Seri's waiting for you," she said.

He thanked her and headed inside, this time going through the left door, which was already open. He found Seri waiting for him inside. She stood before a counter with a simple washbasin beside it and a row of four basic stalls with no doors on them, each one a very simple shower. She had a medical kit open on the counter and some supplies spread out.

"Seth," she said as he came in, "you've made it back. I was beginning to get a little worried. It is very dangerous out there."

"That it is," he murmured.

"Close the door," Seri said, continuing to organize her tools and supplies. Seth did so, but began to feel a little uncomfortable. He trusted Seri, but hospitals made him anxious for the same reason that they probably made most people anxious. Needles and sickness and death. And needles. He hated needles.

He'd forced himself to get over that fear, for the most part.

"Strip down," Seri said as he moved away from the door. He hesitated again. "Don't worry, nudity does not affect me. I won't be uncomfortable."

He tried not to sigh. It was great knowing that _she_ wasn't going to be uncomfortable if he got naked, but he sure was. But, again, that was something you had to get over in the military as well. Lots of shared space, communal showers and barracks and all that. Seth started stripping down. Despite his discomfort, it did feel good to get these clothes and his armor off. Before long, he stood completely naked before Seri.

"I was afraid of this," she said, studying him. "A few of your wounds reopened. Well, it would make sense for you to wash yourself first. Here, hold on."

He watched her walk over to one of the stalls and turn on the water. It took a moment to get going, and even then it didn't look too good or clean coming out.

"It needs a moment to be properly filtered after the plant being shut off," she explained, coming back. He just nodded. She was studying him again, though now she was simply looking at him, not at his wounds.

"Um...something on your mind?" he asked.

"Yes." She paused a moment longer, as though considering her words. "Would you be adverse to me showering with you?"

"I...ah...is there a particular reason?" he replied.

"Oh. Yes. I suppose an explanation would help. Even with the filtration plant, our reserves of water are limited. Two people consuming roughly the same amount of the water is more logical than if I took a shower on my own," she explained.

He hesitated a few seconds longer, then just shrugged. Why not? He wasn't sure if that completely followed, but at this point, he was getting too tired to care. "Okay," he said simply.

"Thank you. I can also examine you further, and help tend to your back."

He just nodded. After just a bit longer, the water finally became clear and steamed with a wonderful heat. It looked terribly inviting. He moved into the stall and stood beneath the showerhead. He hissed and gritted his teeth at the pain of hot, running water on his burned areas, but held his position.

Even still, it felt good in some way. A psychological comfort.

"Perhaps I should turn the temperature down..." Seri murmured as she finished stripping down and then moved into the shower with him.

"No, it's okay. My muscles need this, and I like my showers hot," he replied.

"Very well."

He stood there awhile longer, letting the water wash away all the dirt and sweat and blood and grime and dead skin he'd built up over the past...however long he'd been going since the horrendous space battle overhead began.

Eventually, he opened his eyes and saw Seri standing in front of him. She looked close enough to a human woman to look at least kind of attractive…

Seth shut down that part of his brain fast and hard.

She didn't seem interested in him and he wasn't going to make this weird.

"Here," she said, offering him a bar of soap and a washrag. "This is antibacterial and the washrag should help get some of your dead skin off. The kolto managed to deal with almost all of the burns, but even so, it will not be, ah, pleasant. I have painkillers if you desire."

"Maybe after the shower," he replied, accepting it. He started running the soap over his body, trying to cover as much as he could. "So, um...you're from a water planet, aren't you?" he asked.

"My species is. Manaan. But I grew up here, on Taris."

"Is it hard to survive in a place like this?"

She sighed, or what he assumed was a sigh. "It can be. I feel guilty. I require more water than anyone else down here. I make up for it as best I can, and they are all more than happy to give me water in return for the medical expertise I offer, but still...it's even more frustrating because one of the things Yex has had to trade for are pills that delay dehydration for me. They are expensive."

"How did you end up down here?" he asked.

She frowned, considering it. "It is a long, sad story, and I would not like to talk about it now."

"I understand."

"Thank you."

He went as fast as he could after that, first going over himself with the soap, then once with the rag, which did make him grit his teeth in pain, his skin still pretty raw in some places. Once he'd gotten that out of the way, he went over himself with the soap one more time. When he thought he was done, Seri held her hand out.

"I will get your back. It needs it," she reminded him.

"Yeah, I guess so," he muttered, turning around. He winced but held his peace as she got to work. "How bad is it?"

"Not too bad, but you easily got it the worst back here," Seri replied. She was silent for a few seconds longer. "What will you do?" she asked.

"About what?"

"About leaving. Have you determined anything further yet?"

"I...Nova and I are working on a plan."

"Oh?"

"Yes. She asked me not to talk about it to anyone. I think she doesn't want to get anyone's hopes up about, uh, anything," he murmured, suddenly wondering if he had said too much already.

"I understand her discretion," Seri replied simply, relieving him.

After what felt like far too long, she finished with his back, then took his spot in the shower. He carefully dried off as she washed up, soaking in the water, her skin glistening. He wondered what it must be like, being a species that evolved in water, being forced to live in a place like this. It had to be a nightmare, and that just made him even more curious about how she had ended up here. But by her reaction, it had to be sad.

Seth waited for Seri to be done, and eventually she was. She didn't dry off, instead simply coming out and beginning the process of fixing him up.

"I'm going to use some more kolto on you," she said.

"Maybe you shouldn't. There's so little of it..."

"I believe we will use less kolto than we would alternative supplies maintaining you," Seri explained.

"All right, then."

She applied a thin film of kolto over his burns, cuts, and scrapes, then covered the worst of them with some gauze patches and bandages. Once that was finally finished, he opened up the bag Nova had given him and pulled out the new clothes. Well, different, not really new. They were a step up at least: an all-black jumpsuit with several pockets, faded in several places but very functional. Before long, the pair of them were dressed and heading back outside.

"Where am I staying?" he asked.

"In my cabin," Seri replied. "I have a spare cot and I had some extra food brought in for your meal."

"Oh. Thanks."

"You're welcome."

They moved back across the settlement. Although the light level was the same, he noticed significantly less activity now. It must be 'night', he decided. There were two different people by the front gate, guarding it and chatting quietly. He followed Seri. Like Nova's and Yex's shacks, hers was one of the better ones. Larger, sturdier, with more stuff inside of it. Moving around felt weird and kind of sticky, what with the thin film of kolto across most of his body, but at least the pain levels had reduced. Kolto also had a kind of numbing quality to it. Now he just had hunger and an intense, immensely powerful lethargy to contend with.

The meal wasn't much, but Seth enjoyed it all the same. He ate meat, fruits, and vegetables from sealed cans.

"Don't hold back, you need to eat, to finish healing," Seri said. "And you seem to have earned it. Your pod has brought much to us, and getting the plant back online was a great help."

"Yex did that," Seth murmured.

"And you assisted."

He just nodded, going through a can of mixed fruit, then downing it with a canteen of water. It tasted better this time around, at least.

"How long have you been a soldier?" Seri asked.

"Twelve years," he replied. "I signed up as soon as I was legally able."

"Why?"

"I...had an unhappy upbringing. And spent a long time in poverty. It's like, uh, how you didn't want to talk about your own circumstances earlier."

"Ah. I understand."

"Thanks. But I guess it's fair to tell you some about myself, given you saved my life. I fought in the Mandalorian Wars. I've seen a _lot_ of combat. Spent a lot of time in kolto tanks. Seen a lot of worlds."

"Do you have anyone in your life? Friends? Family?"

He sighed. "No, not anymore. I mean, I've got people that I'm friends with, but that's the nature of war and the military. We got split up. I've got no idea where they are now. No real family to speak of. Hoping to have a big party once this is all over. Hit some pleasure planet and go on a three week binge to celebrate. Then..." he shook his head. "Then we get to start picking up the pieces. _Again._ Provided nothing _else_ goes wrong."

"I don't hear much about the war down here. Do you think we can win?"

"I...don't know," he said softly. "Although I guess it won't matter to me if I don't make it out of here alive."

"It is good at least that you have hope, and determination. Both of those things are in short supply down here. I often find myself struggling with depression and anxiety."

Seth just nodded. "I'm deeply familiar with both of those," he murmured. "There's pills for them, but really, pills can only do so much when your life is a nightmare and you actually do have several legitimate reasons for feeling intensely depressed and paralyzingly anxious."

"Yes. I imagine you would have difficulty with managing such emotions, being a soldier."

He laughed, a little bitterly. "Yeah, you could say that. I've figured out ways to deal with it. Mostly I just ignore it. Which probably isn't a great idea. But really, whenever it's getting really bad, there's one thing that's gotten me through the worst of it."

"What's that?" Seri asked.

"I know that the only way to go on...is to go on. Even when you feel like you can't. Especially when you feel like you can't." He waited to see how Seri would react to this. She said nothing, instead opting to look down at her meal. He couldn't read her. "It's kind of stupid, I know, but-" he began, but she cut him off.

"No," she said, looking back up at him. "It is not stupid. It makes sense. It is an admission of the simple reality of the situation. You either continue, or give up. A binary choice. I have seen people endure long past the point where I thought they would give up, or even break. I think many people can endure far longer than they think they can. But few wish to, because to endure is to suffer. I know this well."

"As do I," he murmured. He yawned suddenly. "Sorry."

"No, you've had a long day. You need to sleep."

Part of him wanted to argue, he wanted to talk about this more, but now that he was full of food and had showered, and with kolto slowly seeping into his body, his battle with lethargy was one that he was rapidly losing.

Especially when Seri offered him a pain relieving injection. As much as the shower and the kolto had helped, he still felt like crap, his headache throbbing, muscles sore and aching.

"Thanks," he said as she stuck the hypo into his neck. He winced slightly at the small prick of the needle he felt, but then began to feel better, and sleepier.

Standing up, he swayed slightly, then moved over to the cot she'd set up for him. It looked old, but there were pillows and a blanket. He kicked out of his boots, then gratefully crawled beneath the blanket.

He was asleep almost the second his head hit the pillow.


	7. Chapter 07: Stealth & Secrecy

He was aboard the _Endar Spire_ , and something was wrong.

Gravely wrong.

There was smoke and death on the air. The metal walls of the corridors were smashed and battered, covered in blood and tattooed with blaster fire scoring.

Seth wandered these corridors endlessly, terror stealing into his soul.

Someone was coming for him.

Someone who wanted to hurt him. Who wanted to make him wish for death. Someone with eyes of glowing blood red and a grin like a skull and long fingers.

He heard his name whispered from somewhere behind him and froze.

Time passed in isolated fragments, swollen so that a second felt like an era.

A hand fell on his shoulder.

Seth screamed.

* * *

Seth opened his eyes.

For several seconds, he was frozen in absolute terror, his entire body locked in a rigid paroxysm of mindless fear. He had no idea where he was. All he could see was some strange ceiling overhead of old, rusted corrugated metal.

But then he heard voices, and one of them stood out, and was very familiar.

The strange, somewhat wet voice of Seri.

Seri.

He remembered her. And Nova. And Yex.

He was on Taris. In the Undercity.

Seth took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Certainly not a great place to be, especially considering how he'd gotten here, but it was vastly superior to his nightmares. He heard footfalls, then a door opening and closing. Rolling over, he saw Seri stepping back into her shack. She looked over at him and smiled.

"You are awake," she said.

"Yeah. Um...how long was I out?" he asked, since the outdoors looked exactly the same it had as when he'd gone to sleep.

He missed the sun. It was strange, he didn't miss it this painfully when he was on a starship, traveling in the vast, obsidian gulfs between worlds. Perhaps it was because he knew that, before too long, he would likely see sunlight again.

"Twelve hours," Seri replied.

That made him a little guilty, but he had _needed_ that sleep. Badly. And as he sat up, he actually felt half decent. A meal and a shower would probably help him feel almost good. He sat up, pulling the blankets back, then stood and stretched. Several of his joints popped and his body felt a bit stiff after that long of a sleep, and on an old cot to boot.

"Is everything okay?" he asked.

"Yes. No one has attacked us. Nothing has gone wrong," Seri replied.

"Good. Um, I think I need another meal, and a shower. Unless that's asking too much."

"No, it should be fine. I'll join you. I need to check your wounds again."

"Okay."

They ended up eating a quick breakfast first: more food out of cans. This time he got beans and some kind of meat that tasted at least half decent. When he got out of here, another thing Seth promised himself was a good breakfast, with eggs and bacon and corned beef hash. And milk. After breakfast, he followed Seri back over to the showers. Essale was there, guarding again, and she raised one eyebrow at him as he passed, though said nothing.

Great, did she think he was sleeping with Seri? He wasn't sure to feel good or bad about that, so he just ignored it. He at least felt less awkward about stripping down in front of Seri. She checked his wounds over, peeling away his bandages. The kolto had mostly done its job. His skin no longer felt raw and most of his wounds had sealed up. One had reopened in the night and bled a bit, but otherwise Seri seemed happy with the results of her work. They showered and cleaned up, then dressed and headed back out into the encampment.

"I imagine Nova will want to see you. Good luck in whatever it is you do today," Seri said.

"Thanks. And, uh, thank you for helping me," he replied.

"I am happy to."

He tracked Nova down, and as he hunted for her, he studied the inhabitants of the small Undercity settlement. He doubted there were more than forty or fifty people here in total, and he saw a few children, which made his chest ache and that old anger flare again. They didn't deserve to be down here. And yet he did notice that most people seemed to be in a better mood than they had been yesterday. He'd hesitate to call them happy, but their conversations were more lively, and people just generally seemed a bit more animated.

He found Nova in her shack, standing at her desk, studying something.

"You're awake. Finally," she said.

"You sound excited. What's up?" he replied.

"I've been working on a plan for some time, but until yesterday, I didn't have a way to do it that wasn't too risky. It's still pretty risky, but with you here now, and with what I found at the filtration plant, I think we can move forward."

"A plan to deal with the Dreks?" he asked.

"Yes. It's going to be very dangerous, but it's a sound plan."

"Convince me," Seth said, crossing his arms and leaning back against the wall.

"Okay. The Dreks have set up their headquarters down here in an old hospital. It's pretty secure...from the surface. But it has a basement, and the basement is accessible via the sewers. As such, it's full of rakghouls, and they've cordoned it off."

"How do you know this?" he asked.

"I've been doing my research," she replied. Then she sighed. "Okay, I got lucky. I was hiding one day on my way back and a Drek recon squad wandered by. I overheard them bitching about this basement setup. I know where the hospital is because I scoped it out from a distance, and I managed to find some old maps of the area. I studied them. I know how to get into the sewers relatively close to the hospital, I know how to navigate my way there, and I know how to get into the basement."

"Okay. And the rakghouls?"

"I mentioned they operate largely on sight. I found a stealth unit about a month ago, and managed to find another one on one of the dead Dreks at the filtration plant yesterday. They work, they have power. We put them on, we get into the sewers and use them to get to the basement, where we plant a few bombs, blow open a few exits and let the rakghouls run wild through the hospital. The Dreks and the rakghouls kill each other."

Seth thought about it for several moments. It was certainly a ridiculously dangerous plan, but he still needed Nova, and clearly this was a price of her help. And, well, he couldn't just stand by and let the Dreks keep taking advantage of people down here, or harassing, hurting, or killing them, either. Putting them down would be good work. Who knew how many settlements they were screwing with? Seth had risked his life before.

And he'd do it again.

"Okay," he said. "I'm in."

Nova grinned fiercely. "Good. Gear up and we'll head out."

* * *

Seth found it mildly disturbing, and yet somehow relieving, that he was already beginning to get used to walking through the Undercity. Had it really only been two days since he'd come crashing down onto Taris?

Somehow, it felt longer.

They stuck to the shadows, moved quickly and quietly, and went during another one of what Nova called the 'low tide' times for the rakghouls. For most of the journey, the moved in silence. Seth's mind was turning over slowly, examining...himself, he supposed. It wasn't something he frequently did, but those nightmares…

The past few days had shaken some old, bad things loose from the deep, dark trenches of his soul. Memories had bubbled to the surface like an old, bloated corpse freed from sunken wreckage. It was not something he wanted to remember. In a way, the centerpiece of that nightmare was something he'd spent a long time running from, trying to forget. Though he did know that it was something he could never truly forget, only something he could bury. That seemed to throw a pall over his thoughts, and he did his best to ignore it.

Instead, he tried to focus on his plans for the future.

That was, provided he had a future.

If he did manage to get off of this world, what then? He had to get these people out of here, he knew that much. Nova, Yex, Seri, and the others...none of them deserved this. At least as far as he knew. But how could he save them? Where would they go? What would they do? He felt at least decently confident that if he could actually get them to safety, the Republic would help in _some_ capacity. And even just getting to a different and colonized planet would be a massive step up from living in this nightmare.

"Here," Nova said suddenly, "it's here. Come on."

They came to an old, rusted-over, muck-covered door embedded in one of the enormous, pockmarked metal walls that seemed to serve as dividers between zones in the Undercity. She pulled an old lever that gave out an awful metal shriek, and then only caused more sound as the door ground slowly open. Seth kept a sharp eye out, hoping that they could get through as much of this as possible without running into any trouble.

Once it was open, they slipped inside and Nova closed it behind them.

"Stealth generators," she murmured.

He activated the generator she'd given him and waited, resisting the urge to hold his breath and wait for it to fail. They'd tested them a few times beforehand, but both were, at best, secondhand leftovers. Yex had looked over them, just to be sure, and they'd been charged, but still...just lately, his luck felt less than stellar.

But they both worked and held.

The pair set off into the sewer systems.

The place stank of old blood and decaying flesh and other, worse smells. It felt like a bad place, the kind of place where evil dwelt and grew and thrived in shadows. Seth found himself very grateful for the long sleep, the food, the kolto that had mostly healed his wounds, because he felt like he needed to be very sharp in a place like this. Large, grime-covered tunnels snaked away from them as they moved down a central passageway. Distantly, and sometimes not so distantly, he could hear grunting, shrieking, and moaning. He wondered if anything else was down here.

"This is a really awful place," he muttered after several minutes of silent traversal.

"Yep," Nova murmured. "Always somewhere worse. I hate coming down here."

"You come down here?"

"Yeah, sometimes. Occasionally I've used it to hide. Sometimes to scavenge when I get particularly desperate."

"There's stuff worth scavenging down here?"

"Oh yes, definitely. I've found two good caches down here, one of which was just credits. I think someone did a big robbery and then hid their score down here until the heat was off. It had been there a long time. So I took it. Another time there was some old emergency cache of medical supplies, food, water. That was a good find. But it's really dangerous down here. There are a _lot_ of rakghouls. They nest down here."

"Wonderful," Seth muttered.

They pressed on, weapons in hand, trying not to move too fast. The stealth generator largely worked better when you moved slowly, so it was a near constant trade-off between moving slow enough to keep it working and moving quick enough to get out of this awful place. The smell alone was enough to motivate Seth to move his ass.

"Okay, we're almost there. Just through this chamber up ahead," Nova whispered after several more minutes.

Seth felt relief begin to flow through him.

Then it abruptly evaporated, replaced by stark terror, as they turned the corner and came to stand at the entrance of the chamber she was referring to.

It was filled with rakghouls.

They were sleeping.

There had to be two dozen of them, maybe more. Seth looked at Nova, or tried to, anyway. All he could see was her faint outline.

"Slowly," she whispered so softly he almost couldn't hear her.

He just nodded, though it was surely lost on her, and the pair began moving slowly, carefully, into the room.

The rakghouls were spread out across the area at random. Some gurgled, others twitched. They were all sleeping, as far as he could tell. There was, at least, a clear destination, if not a clear path there. Well, there was no way to do it but to do it. He had to do this. Seth made himself take the first step, setting his foot down carefully into the nearest available space. He put his weight on it, waited, then shifted forward, putting his other foot in the next open space. And this was how he moved through the dimly lit room for the next seemingly immeasurable segment of time. His progress felt painfully lethargic, but it was progress at least.

First he made it three feet. Then another three feet.

Eventually, he'd managed to put together about fifteen feet of roughly forward progress. There was an open hole in the center with the decayed remnants of a metal railing around it that led into a pitch black pit.

He was almost to the door when one of the rakghoul horrors nearest to him abruptly shifted and woke up. It opened its eyes, sitting up, and Seth froze. He couldn't remember the last time he'd actually been this terrified. The rakghoul looked around, slowly bringing its dark gaze to him. It stopped, lingering, and Seth prepared himself for the worst. The seconds ticked by, drawn out to torturous lengths…

And then it put its head back down, resettled itself slightly, and went back to sleep.

Seth remained where he was for several seconds more, but then he caught the slightest hint of movement over by the door he was supposed to go through, which was thankfully open, and knew that Nova was there, waiting for him. That got him moving again. He kept going and finally crossed the last of the distance and joined her. They moved on through the doorway and down the corridor that awaited them.

It didn't get better when they found their destination.

She led him to a hole that had been broken through a section of the wall, and they came to another large, open area littered with…

More sleeping rakghouls.

Seth resisted the urge to curse in frustration.

"You go there, that stairway to the left, plant the bombs at the top," Nova said, and he jumped slightly. She was right next to him, whispering as low as possible into his ear. "Then, there's a door over there, I think it leads to a supply closet. See it?"

"Yes," he whispered.

"We should be able to hide there."

"Understood."

They split up and again moved with that same torturous sluggishness, careful of every sleeping rakghoul. Nova had given him some explosives she'd been gathering up slowly over the past few months, either from the occasional lucky find down in the Undercity, or, mainly, from having Yex buy some whenever he came across them up in the Lower City markets. Seth finally reached the stairwell and crept up it. As soon as he was in place, he set the explosives, checked them over, then did so again, just to be safe, and then began the long trek over to the closet. He had his reservations about this plan, not that it mattered now, he was obviously committed, but in all honesty, this was how he typically found himself operating.

Taking risks and doing stupid things.

It was definitely not conducive to being in the military. Soldiers had to work together and follow orders to prevent stupid deaths from happening, and Seth always did his best to only put himself in danger.

That had been happening a lot more lately.

Actually, he realized as he got to the closet and waited for Nova, a _lot_ more over the past six months or so. How many times had he risked his life intentionally and, sometimes, unnecessarily? He'd basically leaped at the chance to do this. He knew why he was getting away with it: the war was going terribly, and the Republic was getting desperate. They needed warm bodies to fill out suits of armor, grab blasters, and fire back at the ever-growing Sith army. He'd gotten yelled at and threatened with demotion after doing something particularly stupid a few times, but it never led anywhere, and he knew why: he was too valuable. His experience was too useful.

Why was he being so reckless?

Did he have a reason?

Did he have a reason _not_ to any longer?

Nova slipped into the room. "We can hide up there," he said quietly. "At the back of the room." There was a stack of crates that led to the top of a broad shelving unit pressed against the back wall. As good a place to hide as any. They moved over to it, carefully climbing up the crates and then positioning themselves in the shadows at the very back of the room, near the ceiling. There was enough room for them to sit with their backs to the wall.

They deactivated their stealth units.

"Ready?" Nova asked.

"Ready," he replied.

She pulled out the detonator, held it up for a few seconds, as though savoring the moment, then pressed the button.

A pair of tremendous explosions erupted and shook the entire area. A chorus of roars and growls and shrieks sounded as all the rakghouls came awake at once. As the explosions died off, they heard a stampede of running feet as the rakghouls hunted furiously for whatever had disturbed, and probably in several cases, hurt them.

And then they began to hear screams, and blaster fire.

The two of them settled in to wait.


	8. Chapter 08: Trust

The rest of the day was arduous, annoying, and actually pretty fruitful.

They waited close to an hour and a half before the last of the fighting finally died down. Close to ten minutes had passed since the last blaster discharge had sounded before Seth and Nova finally decided to come out of their hiding spot. They killed a handful of rakghouls that were still lingering in the basement, then took the opportunity to actually close the three openings from the basement out into the sewer, though at one point Nova had to do some quick repairs to one of the panels. As they closed off the basement, Seth found himself vaguely disappointed at the laziness of the Drek gang. All they had to do was come down here, clear out the rakghouls, make some simple repairs and close a few doors to secure their headquarters.

Maybe it was on their to-do list.

Well...not anymore.

After sealing off the basement, they had made their way upstairs and taken another hour to clear out the hospital. They killed off whatever rakghouls were still left alive, and occasionally found the occasional holdout or surviving Drek who'd made it into a closet or a bathroom. And they'd killed them, too. When the hospital was secure, the pair spent another hour grabbing not just everything they possibly could, but the most valuable and mobile of the supplies that the Dreks had gathered at their hospital headquarters.

They'd packed their pockets and their packs with credits, rare medical supplies, (including several containers of kolto), weapons, tools, power cells, and rare spare parts. Nova had pointed out that there was no way they were going to risk coming back, given that someone was likely going to come check out the radio silence, and they didn't want to be here when that happened. And so they'd gone back down into the sewers, opening the doors up again to help let more rakghouls back into the hospital and make it that much more dangerous for whatever Dreks came down to investigate. Though he really didn't look forward to the walk back.

But they'd taken their time, avoided the rakghouls, and managed to get back to the outcast settlement without a problem.

Seth thought that they'd move right along with Nova's plan, but she became oddly defensive almost as soon as they'd gotten back. After dropping off all the supplies they'd found and he'd asked her for more details, she'd told him that they would talk 'later tonight', then had disappeared. Unsure of what the sudden shift in her mood was, Seth had caught a meal, then gone to see however else he could help out.

He'd spent the rest of the day doing a series of oddjobs across the settlement.

He'd helped Yex by tracking down some tools and parts he needed.

He'd played nurse for Seri while she was dealing some injuries.

He'd helped fight off a rakghoul attack at one point.

It was, at least, an interesting and eventful day. But as it was drawing to a close and he finished up another oddjob that the locals had for him, he finally decided enough was enough, he was going to go see Nova and figure out what this grand plan of hers was. He tracked down her shack and knocked on the door.

"Come in," she said. She sounded tired, and wary.

He entered and found her sitting on her bed, staring at something, what looked like a datapad. As he closed the door behind him, she sighed softly and powered it down, then slipped it beneath her pillow and stood.

"We should talk," he said.

"Yes, I suppose it's time. Sit," she replied, pointing to a small table with two chairs around it. As he sat, she poked her head outside, looked around, then firmly closed the door and the window. Nova crossed the small shack and sat down opposite him.

For several seconds, she simply stared at him, her gaze hard and flat.

He waited. Obviously she was thinking about something. When she did speak, she leaned forward and kept her voice low, but steady.

"I want you to look me in the eye and swear to me that you will not betray us. You will not leave us here if you think you can get away with it. That you will not abandon us."

Is this what she was worried about?

Well, he could at least be honest. He leaned forward, staring back into her intensely blue eyes. "I swear that I will not betray, nor abandon you, or anyone in this colony," he said firmly. "I swear that I will do everything in my power to get everyone here off of Taris and somewhere safe."

That seemed to surprise her a little bit, and she stared at him for a few seconds longer, searching his gaze, as though hunting for some sign of betrayal, some quantum of untruth. She seemed not to find any, and her gaze softened, her features relaxing.

"Fine," she said, sitting back.

"You don't trust easy, do you?" he asked.

"No. I don't," she replied flatly. "I'm going to share my plan with you now." She kept her voice low. "I would appreciate it if you didn't repeat this to anyone. Not until we're sure. I just...I don't want to get their hopes up. They've already suffered so much."

"I won't. What's your plan?"

"Two weeks ago, I was out scouting. Pretty far out. I was in a place that I think no one had been to for quite awhile. I discovered the remains of an old military base. Inside, I found a vessel in surprisingly good shape. It has a hyperspace drive. I replaced one of its power cells and managed to run at least a basic diagnostic. It'll need some repairs, which we have Yex for, and power, but I think it can actually get us off of Taris through a launch tunnel that leads to the surface."

"And the Sith in orbit?" he asked.

"I found a device onboard. An old radar scrambler. I don't think it will be particularly effective, but I think it might give us enough of a window of time to make the jump to hyperspace."

Seth sat back in his chair, thinking about it, feeling excitement welling up in him, because this was something he could latch onto. This was a plan, an actual plan that could actually work. This was a way off Taris.

Although…

"That's a pretty risky plan," he said finally.

"I know," she replied, "but it's the only one we've got. It's this or nothing."

Seth sighed, rubbing the back of his neck, feeling a headache coming on. "Yeah, of course it is. Isn't it always?" he muttered. "Well, you'll have to take me out there tomorrow. How far away is it?" he asked.

"It's a two hour walk."

"Of freaking course it is. So, I'll memorize the way there, we double-check the base to make sure it's still secure when we get there, then we come back, and I return to the base with Yex and we figure out just how feasible this plan really is."

"That's what I was thinking," Nova replied.

"In that case, I'm going to sleep. Wake me up bright and early," he said, standing.

"I will. And...Seth?" she asked. He paused, turned and looked at her, raising an eyebrow. "Thank you for this."

"Do you believe that you can trust me, Nova?" he asked.

She stared at him for another long moment. "I think so," she answered finally. A look of frustration passed over her features. "I guess we'll see."

"I know it isn't really all that helpful to say so, but you can trust me. I _will_ help you all. I will do whatever I can. But words are easy. Actions are what matter."

"So far, your actions say that I can trust you," she murmured.

"I'm glad. I want to help. And I will. Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Seth."

He left her shack and made for Seri's.

* * *

"Something's been bothering me," Seth said, because he'd been in a sour mood ever since waking up and hadn't really been able to pinpoint why. But he thought he had at least a rough estimate of his unhappiness, and he wanted to talk about it.

"A lot of things bother me," Nova muttered. "But what is it?"

They were walking through the Undercity again, listening to its disconcerting sounds of dripping sewage, the uneven buzzing of an abused and mismanaged power distribution network, and the occasionally rakghoul shrieks.

"How do they do it? How do they live down here their whole lives?" he asked.

Nova was silent for several seconds, probably considering the question. Maybe even wondering it herself. "Not all of them have been down here their whole lives. Some lived above. They have prisons up there, but sometimes the judge just sentences them to be exiled down here. Mainly if they pissed off some rich asshole up top. Though I'm sure they throw some rapists and serial killers down here too from time to time. Honestly though, I think those people have it worse. They actually know what it was like to not live down here. For everyone else who grew up in the Undercity, all they have are stories. Can't quite miss what you never had. You can want it, but wanting something isn't the same as losing and missing something."

"Yeah..." Seth murmured.

"As for how they do it? I don't know. I'm sure it's some combination of utterly hopelessness and despair mixed in with that mostly relentless survival drive that makes you keep on wanting to survive even when there's nothing left to live for. But it's an alien concept to us, isn't it? Because you and me, we'd rather die trying to escape this place than live down here."

"Yes," he agreed, his voice firmer.

"But they live with it. Something I've heard that I've learned the awful truth of over my life: you'd be amazed at what you can live with."

Seth didn't respond, looking inwards, into the past, knowing the truth of that sentiment. Though, he glanced over at Nova briefly, he did wonder what, precisely, she was thinking about when she said that. He kept studying her as they walked through the relative quiet of the Undercity. They'd had to fend off two half-hearted rakghoul attacks so far, but otherwise the journey had been quiet. Seth was just waiting for the really bad attack that he kept expecting to happen, and every time he wasn't swarmed with rakghouls, he just felt his internal tension rise a bit, because it felt like the Undercity was saving up for him…

He realized he was still looking at Nova.

It was obvious to him that she was attractive. Even in his lethargic, pained state the first time they'd met, he knew that she was a very...what was the right word? It wasn't hard to call Nova beautiful, but it didn't feel accurate. She was...sexy, in a dangerous kind of way. She was hot. He was certainly attracted to her, but that had only grown over the past few days. Because Nova was capable and competent. She was brave and passionate. Seth had encountered far too much apathy in his life. Seeing someone as vibrant as Nova was like a beacon in the darkness. Plus, well, he was just attracted to women who could probably kick his ass.

He'd never quite figured that one out.

Despite all this, he knew he wasn't going to make any kind of move on her. It was clear that she felt, at least on some level, vulnerable, and was probably to some degree overcompensating. Their conversation last night had highlighted that particular fact. Her trust had been betrayed, brutally so, and probably more than once. This betrayal was just the most recent wound, and likely still fresh. He didn't blame her for her trust issues.

But if they actually managed to make it out of here...would she be into him at all?

Seth didn't even know if he was capable of a real, sustained relationship any longer. He knew that the pieces were there: he could be caring, he could be loyal, he could be honest. But aspects of a relationship were just that: aspects. Pieces. They had to assemble into a meaningful whole...and he hadn't been able to make that happen for a long time now. Part of it he could blame on his career, his personality, the people he tended to spend time with, both personally and professional. When you were a soldier and a war was on, the best relationships were short ones, with not a lot of emotional investment on either side's part.

Why was he even thinking about this so much?

How long had it been since he'd even just been with someone in a sexual way? Had it been...yeah, it had been going on six months now.

That was probably why.

"Anything else?" Nova asked.

"I don't know, I mean I guess not. It just...bugs me. Seeing people living with this intolerable situation. I honestly don't know if that makes them incredibly strong or incredibly weak...not that I'm passing any judgment, really. I mean, this situation is totally screwed. I'm surprised that they've done as well as they have," he replied.

"Yeah. They certainly did a lot, but they were definitely worse off before Seri, Yex, and I showed up and started helping out...we're almost there," she said, focusing on the path ahead of them.

Seth followed her gaze and saw the ancient, skeletal remains of what might have been a tank at one point, decades and decades ago. Probably a good landmark. They moved out of the alleyway they'd been traversing, across the open space, around the tank, and there it was: the military base. Seth wondered why it had gone unnoticed for this long, but he supposed it could be any number of reasons. He didn't really have a clear grasp of the topography of the area, nor of what other threats might be lurking.

They moved through a hole in a still mostly intact fence of permacrete and plasteel, topped with spun razorwire. A graveyard of old military vehicles, long since rusted out, was on the other side. As they made their way slowly around the exterior, towards the hangar bay entryway, Seth had a flash of chilled deja vu, thinking of the firebombed base he'd returned to not all that long ago. He suddenly wanted to be somewhere else, anywhere. Even fighting rakghouls seemed better than having to walk into a base that triggered those memories.

"Here it is," Nova said, coming to a blown-open ingress. She glanced back. "You okay?"

"I'm fine," he murmured in response, fighting to control himself. Seth forced himself onward and joined her. She hesitated, lingering in the doorway, then seemed to decide that if he wanted to keep his own counsel, then that was fair, given how closely she kept her own. They moved into the base. Seth looked around the room they came into: a vast, metallic area that was taken up largely by a single vessel.

The hangar bay, and the ship Nova had promised.

He recognized it as a military system-jumper, though there were some things that were odd about it. Maybe it was just that it was an older model...not that ship designs seem all that different nowadays. Really, he'd been on ships like this one before, and they hadn't been all that old.

"Let's clear the area first," Seth said.

"I don't think there's anything here...but I guess it wouldn't be a good idea not to," Nova agreed, looking around slowly.

They split up and moved in opposite directions along the peripheral of the room. Doing a sweep and clear helped chill Seth out, his mind latching onto military protocol. There wasn't much in the hangar, just a few stacks of old crates, a workbench, the occasionally long since rotted corpse of some poor bastard who'd gotten caught in whatever tragedy had befallen this place. He checked any doors he came across, finding a mostly empty storage room, a bathroom, and a small office area. By the time he'd met back up with Nova, he hadn't seen a single living thing.

"Clear," she said.

"Clear," he confirmed. "Now what?"

"Now...well, we should get onto the ship and check it out, and then we should head back. This was just me showing you the way. I'll need you to come back with Yex so that he can do a proper assessment of this thing and figure out if we even have a chance of getting it off the ground."

"Okay," he said, and followed her to the ship.

"What do you think will happen to the outcasts?" Nova asked. "I mean, provided we make it somewhere. What should we do? Who should we appeal to?"

"Well...that's a good question," he murmured. "I'm not sure whether or not Taris is actually part of the Republic. I mean, obviously now it's not, but these people, or their parents, or grandparents, were at, one point, sentenced and exiled. It all depends on whether or not the Republic will choose to uphold that sentencing. I seriously doubt they will, and it's not like anyone from Taris will give a crap. But...well, I don't know. I've seen some pretty stupid decisions crop of up because of dumb, obscure legal precedents." He sighed and shook his head. "I don't know. I do know that I'll figure it out, one way or the other. Even if we have to take them somewhere else, some quiet world outside the Republic that's better than this dump, I'll see that it gets done."

"You'd do that?" she asked.

"Yes," he replied, "I would."

She seemed not to know what to say to that, so instead she just climbed a ladder up a support strut that led into an emergency airlock on the bottom of the ship. He followed after her. They cycled through the airlock and crawled into a cargo area. It was in surprisingly good shape. He supposed they did tend to build to last in the military, even a hundred years ago. As they moved through the vessel, Seth did feel that this model had been modified at some point. There seemed to be more amenities, and the biggest telltale was that the barracks had been divided up into individual living quarters, each with its own bathroom.

He looked over what he could, mainly the hyperspace drive, which looked intact, and the bridge. Which also looked fairly intact. Once they had arrived on the bridge Nova settled into the pilot's seat and activated the power.

Nothing happened.

A tense moment passed.

Nova began to move again when suddenly the screens nearest to her flickered weakly to life. She let out a long sigh. "I replaced one of the power cells last time I was here," she said as she began working the controls. "And...well, everything looks the same as then." She studied the screens for a few moments longer, then shut it all down. "Okay," she said, getting up, "it's secure, it still works. Let's head back so Yex can get over here."

Seth nodded and followed her back out of the military base.

He felt good. This was a huge step forward.


	9. Chapter 09: The Military Base

"There it is," Seth said. He was down on one knee, blaster pistol out, surveying the area. He thought he'd heard something.

Yex waited behind him.

" _Are we clear?_ " he asked after several seconds.

"Yeah," Seth murmured, "looks that way. Come on. Let's hurry."

They began moving across the open area, around the rusted out tank, and into the military base proper. The pair remained silent as they moved among the rusted-out husks of vehicles and machinery that populated the outdoors area of the base. They slipped in through an opening in the wall and came at last to the hangar bay.

It looked untouched.

" _Yes...this vessel looks like it may possibly help us. I must get onboard to assess the damage and corrosive efforts of the passage of time,_ " Yex said, studying the vessel.

They located the service hatch and climbed the ladder, passed through the airlock, and then moved through the ship to the bridge. Yex settled into the pilot's seat with a great ease and as Seth watched him begin to bring the power back online, a cold tremor shot through his gut.

"I just realized...do we have any pilots?" he asked. "I didn't even think to ask that..."

" _I can pilot this vessel,_ " Yex replied easily.

Relief flooded through him. "Oh. Good."

" _We will be fine on that front, provided this ship actually works. However, before I can run a full and accurate diagnostic on it, I must have a minimum threshold of power. Which, as of right now, I do not have. Would you be so good as to search the area for any kind of power source? I will investigate inside the vessel._ "

"Yeah, sure, Yex. Just...keep an eye out."

" _I will be cautious. Thank you for your assistance._ "

"You're welcome, Yex."

Seth headed back through the vessel and as he made his way down the ladder, into the deserted hangar bay, he began trying to figure out where might be the best place to check for spare power cells. The most immediate thought was the rooms surrounding the hangar. There should be some kind of repair bay or maintenance area or at least a storage room within spitting distance. Although he'd checked those rooms along the perimeter already and they'd been pretty much cleared out. Which meant he needed a map of the base.

Seth had seen access to a second story control area during his initial search and so he immediately set off in that direction. He felt the burden of pressure weighing down on him, an old cocktail of anger and hatred...largely aimed at himself. Seth knew that he was not particularly bright. He could figure the basic stuff out, and he at least had managed to get some rudimentary knowledge of repairs and simple medical stuff sorted out in his head over the years. He could drive most vehicles. And he at least knew how to fix a blaster.

But that was the extent of his knowledge. After twelve years in the Republic Army, he didn't feel terribly smarter than he had when he'd started out. In his mind, it seemed that everyone got something, some kind of...bonus. A natural talent, maybe. Some people were fast, either mentally or physically. Quick witted or dexterous. Some were just lucky. Some were stunning with numbers. Others were very charismatic or attractive.

Seth felt like he'd never really gotten anything.

He wasn't smart, he wasn't attractive, he certainly wasn't lucky.

So, for as long as he could remember, when he'd really begun to grasp this concept, he'd known that he would have to make up for it. And his time spent in this galaxy had only underlined this fact. So he'd made up for it the only way he knew how: endurance and strength. What he did know how to do he went at furiously. If someone needed a mountain of crates moved, well, he could do that, it was just a matter of time and strength and endurance. And so he'd built up a pretty big physique, and he had a lot of endurance.

He liked that, but…

He had never lost that frustration, that anger, at his own failings for being an idiot. Someone had once told him that being made to feel ugly or stupid, truly being made to feel that way, was probably among the worst feelings in the galaxy.

So he made up for his shortcomings with tenacity. As he climbed the stairs to the control tower, Seth thought back to a guy he'd met a few years back when he was on leave. Seth had seen a line of people coming out of a cantina and figured he'd poke his head in and see what was up. There was a guy sitting behind a table, animatedly chatting with people as he gave out his auto-print, and something about the guy, his physique or maybe his demeanor, or maybe just his eyes, hinted that he was military, or had been.

Seth had ended up waiting around for several hours until the place cleared out, intending to try and figure out who he was. Well, he didn't need to wait too long until everyone left, because the guy walked up to him and sat beside him at the bar.

"Hello, sir. I get the impression you wanted to speak with me," he said in a surprisingly straightforward and amiable way. Seth knew he put a lot of people off just with his general demeanor, so he was used to sitting alone.

"Yeah, um...who are you?" Seth replied.

The man laughed. "My name is Henry."

He'd figured out the guy had an incredibly extensive history. He'd started out in the military and had gone through it for ten years. When he'd gotten out, he'd hit the swoop scene and made a five year career out of that before crashing so bad he went into a coma for a month. When he'd woken from it, he'd decided maybe it was time for something new. And so he'd started a band, and he'd started writing books, and acting in holos.

"How do you do it all?" Seth had asked finally.

The guy had snorted and drank from his mug, which Seth had initially mistook for booze, but later discovered it was water. "I just...do," he replied. "I just throw my ideas out there, and sometimes people ask me to do stuff and I say yes. Someone wants me to act in a horror holo, or a comedy. Or someone wants me to be on their song, or write the intro for their book. I don't think I'm particularly good at most of it, honestly."

"I think your two hundred person line begging for your auto-print would beg to differ," Seth replied.

Henry had just shrugged. "I'll tell you the truth," he said, leaning in. "I have discipline, and I have focus. I'm not talented. I don't have talent, I have tenacity."

That had stuck with Seth.

To this day, he remembered that phrase.

 _I don't have talent, I have tenacity._

He'd never seen Henry again, though sometimes he checked up on him, trying to follow his career. He'd made a few more holos, put out a few new books and albums, and apparently had taken up metalworking since then.

In a way, it was tremendously inspiring. Maybe endurance and tenacity could be enough. And right now, it was going to have to be.

Seth came into the control room and fired up the most intact looking console. It took a few minutes, but it finally flickered to life and gave him basic access.

"Thank the Force for that power grid," he muttered to himself as he started hunting around. And within a few more minutes, he had it: a map of the base. "Yes," he whispered as he spied a few likely locations.

The base wasn't too complex. He managed to memorize the basic layout and the most likely places he'd find those energy cells, then jogged back down the stairs to the hangar bay. Seth kept the map firmly in his mind, and the route he would take. He had three places to check out: a vehicle repair bay a little deeper in, a maintenance room beyond that, and a cargo bay not far from the reactor. If he couldn't find power cells there, well...he supposed he'd have to start searching in more desperate places.

And also hope that rakghouls or Dreks didn't show up, or any other opportunistic scavengers that might roam the Undercity.

Seth settled into that sort of 'work mode' he'd spent years building up, his brain going on the back burner as his senses and instincts took over, letting him operate on a battlefield or complete a task with a fair efficiency. Not that it always worked. He left the hangar bay and moved down a length of corroded metal plating, checking out every open door as he passed it, blaster pistol in hand and ready to work. Maybe he could scrounge up some mods for his armor, although surely they'd be pretty out of date. He'd ended up getting new armor when he transferred and as his old armor had gotten lost in transit somewhere, so he'd been stuck with a new, unmodded suit.

It was good stuff, but his old armor could stand up to a lot more.

Seth reached the end of the metal tunnel and turned right. He passed empty rooms, old offices, derelict storage bays, the occasional bathroom. His headache was beginning to worm its way back into his skull, and his body was aching now. Kolto was great stuff, miracle-working honestly, but still. Even with kolto treatments you were still supposed to stay in bed for a few days. Seth had been up and going for hours and hours. Just today alone he'd been at it for about five hours, most of that time spent walking nonstop through the Undercity, sometimes running, sometimes fighting. His muscles ached, his skin hurt, some of his bones and joints were pretty sore. At some point, some probably distant time in the uncertain future, Seth knew that he was going to have to lay down and _stay_ down for a good two or three days.

But certainly not yet.

He reached his first destination, the repair bay. He had to pry open the doors, but even as he stepped inside, he could tell there wasn't much. Just another old, mostly stripped-down vehicle. He poked around for a bit anyway, first confirming that the vehicle was in fact dead, then checking out some crates and a pair of closets. Nothing. No power cells, though he did see some tools and spare parts scattered here and there that might come in useful. Later. Seth slipped back out into the main network of corridors and set off again.

Seconds ticked by, becoming minutes. He began to grow frustrated. The pain, being trapped here on this miserable planet, the suffering of the exiles, the Sith that walked over his head, all the misery in the galaxy that was undeserved…

It was starting to get to him.

As he continued his search of the abandoned military base, Seth found his thoughts beginning to seep in. In a way, they reminded him of outer space, and his perception of it. The mind was a weird thing, and it always struck him as odd, what it attached to. Right now he was thinking of how he sometimes stood at the windows of a ship or a space station. He would look out onto the unthinkably vasts gulfs of almost total emptiness, the void that was space, and place his hand against the window. That was all that stood between him and death.

And he thought that's what outer space was: a manifestation of death. It certainly seemed to be the opposite of life. Nothing he knew of could survive out there. It was frozen. It was dark. It was incapable of sustaining life. And all planets, all suns, everything everywhere was encapsulated in it, surrounded by it, dwarfed by it.

Seth imagined that he could feel that frozen darkness seeping in through the hull, through the windows, almost like it was a force of nature, an intelligent one, that was constantly, relentlessly seeking to eliminate life. All life.

It frightened him.

Seth hit the second location: a maintenance area.

It wasn't too hard to get into it, but he wasted another ten minutes searching the area. Although he did discover more tools and parts, some of them that certainly would be useful in repairing the vessel, there were no power cells. Growing more frustrated and a little bit desperate, Seth began hurrying through the base towards his last destination. Certainly the power core would be home to at least a few energy cells. Of course, even if it was, there was no certainty that those cells were still holding their charge.

They should, in theory, but theory rarely survived contact with reality in his experience.

"Here, finally," Seth whispered as he came to a halt outside another anonymous metal door. He hit the access button and it slid open. Well, that was a good start. Most of the doors in this place didn't seem to be working too well. He looked into the bay beyond. The light he'd been going by mostly came from holes in the ceiling or walls, or by activating any functional sources that he could hunt down. Consequently, this area was bathed mostly in shadows that seemed to gather along the peripheral of the room.

But something immediately caught Seth's eye.

"There you are you bastards," he whispered as he marched in the bay beyond. At the far end there was a table, and the light was just good enough to reach it and show him two crates marked with the symbol for power.

Seth stopped as he got about five steps into the room, realizing that he could hear something. A soft whirring sound. Machinery. He scanned the area, and just had time to see a pair of red lights burning a hole in the darkness, registering them as two artificial eyes, and then a defense droid stepped out of the shadows and began running right for him.

"Oh crap!" he cried, raising the pistol and firing.

The shot grazed its shoulder, tearing away a chunk of its plating, but otherwise leaving it undamaged. The droid continued its charge and then smashed into him. Seth cried out as he was thrown backwards, picked up off the floor and tossed back through the door he'd just come in through. He landed with a harsh grunt and then rolled out of the way as the droid sprinted free of the room and tried to bring its metal foot down on him. The foot smashed into the deckplates and left a deep dent. Seth cursed and took aim again. He squeezed trigger as fast as he could. Several of the bolts went wide as the droid came for him again, but a few more connected, hitting it twice in the chest and once in its face.

Not that this seemed to deter it too much.

Seth yelled in surprised pain as the droid kicked him in the stomach. An explosion of agony burst and swelled within him as he flipped over a few times, rolling down the corridor. Seth kept his grip on his blaster firm and thumbed an overcharged shot. He was going to need to end this quickly. He didn't know why this droid was coming after him or why it had even activated, but that didn't really matter right now.

He had to deal with it regardless of the why.

The droid reached down and scooped him up by the neck, then held him aloft. Moment of truth. It brought its other fist back, intent on finishing the job, and that's when Seth brought the pistol up, tucked the barrel beneath its squarish, metallic head, and squeezed the trigger. The overcharged shot blasted its head to smoldering pieces and he cried out as several burning bits of metal hit his face. He grunted as, once more, he was dropped to the floor, then rolled out of the way to avoid the droid's heavy frame as it toppled over.

"Bastard," he growled, then coughed, rubbing his throat gingerly. Slowly, Seth got to his feet, studying the metal thing. It was a sturdy model, clearly built to last. It must have seen him as a threat. But why was it active now? Maybe all his power activation had woken up it, or maybe it just sensed motion. Or maybe it just was nuts.

Either way, it was dead.

Seth walked back into the room and this time carefully checked the area out. No more droids. Good. He headed for the power cells.

* * *

" _Yes, these will work perfectly,_ " Yex said as he studied the crate. " _Are you okay? You look like you suffered some damage..._ "

"I'll be fine," Seth replied, "just ran into a combat droid. It went nuts and tried to kill me. Kicked my ass, honesty. But I destroyed it."

" _Hmm...unfortunate. Well, we must get these into the ship so that I can begin my assessment of the vessel as a whole,_ " Yex said.

"Let's get it done," Seth replied, and joined the ithorian in slotting the power cells.

The whole process of powering up the ship and then actually running the diagnostic took another good half an hour. Seth spent most of it sitting on the floor of the bridge, tending to his facial wounds a bit more, then drinking from a canteen and eating an energy bar he'd brought along with him. When he was finished, he let himself drift, not quite asleep or even napping, but edging along the borders between conscious and unconscious, until a sharp beep brought him back.

" _It is done,_ " Yex said.

Seth stood and joined him, studying a pair of screens beside him. "Oh wow, that's...is that everything that's wrong with the ship?" he asked.

" _Yes. Every line of text indicates a problem,_ " Yex replied.

Both screens were filled with lines of texts, all of them in red lettering, and then Yex began to scroll down one of the screens.

There was a lot more to go.

" _I will need time to determine what we must fix to get this ship to minimum operational capacity, but I can already tell that this will require a lot of effort and time. Will you go around the base and begin gathering up any and all spare parts and tools you see and bring them here? I believe we will need all of them for this._ "

Seth nodded and refrained from sighing. "Yes. I can do that."

" _Thank you._ "

Seth left Yex on the bridge, looking over his newly gathered data.

It was going to be a very long day.


	10. Chapter 10: Up Into the Lower City

Three days passed.

They were three very long, sometimes frustrating, sometimes annoying, occasionally painful days. But at the very least, Seth felt like he was directly contributing to the cause. The rest of that first day had been spent entirely scouring the base for any and all parts, tools, and basically anything else Yex thought they might need. Yex himself spent all of that day first sorting through the list, and then figuring out what they needed to fix to get the ship into orbit and then past the Sith. He had also confirmed that the two things Nova had initially discovered about the ship that she thought would break through the Sith in orbit were functional and would do the job. Although he said it was technically possible...if they could fix it.

Reluctantly, he'd left Yex at the military base the first night so that he could get back and let Nova know they hadn't died. Walking back through the Undercity alone was something he particularly wasn't looking forward to. But he'd done it, and let Nova know the situation. Now that she trusted Seth at least to be a great fighter and to defend the settlement if it was attacked, she'd finally decided to risk having her and Yex out at the same time, and had decided to spend the night at the military base, because she had a fair amount of technical knowledge and she wanted work on the ship to be nonstop. And so she'd gone.

Seth had spent a few hours making sure the defenses were tightened up and then finally he'd caught a shower, a meal, and a check-over from Seri, who kept bugging him to come see her when she'd heard he'd come in contact with that combat droid. After getting checked out, he'd slept. The next day, Nova had shown up early in the morning, looking like crap, and had sent him off. And that's how the next two days had been. Yex worked twenty hour days three days in a row, saying that ithorians didn't need as much sleep. He was clearly the one doing the most work, but Seth and Nova did offer a fair amount of help.

And then they ran into a problem.

Yex determined that there was a small, though crucial, component in the radar scrambler. They simply could not leave Taris without it. After discussing the problem for awhile, they had eventually determined that they would need to buy it, because the chances of coming across it in the Undercity were pretty much non-existent. But it was a rare part, and they doubted they'd be able to find it in the Lower City either.

And so Seri had offered them a solution.

She had a contact, a doctor in the Lower City, who had an in with a local smuggling network, as he agreed to fix their agents up quickly and quietly in exchange for good money. After that, they began to ask who would go up, although Nova simply pointed to Seth as soon as the question was posed. Nova herself was obviously out because although she was the most likely among them to be accepted, or at least tolerated up there, she was still on the run. Likely from people who ran in the very same circles the smugglers they were trying to contact did.

Yex was out because he needed to keep working.

Seri would draw too much attention, as selkath on a world like Taris were very rare.

And the exiles were out because no one wanted to put them in danger, and they still didn't really know what was going on, (although they had had to be brought in at least a little because of the nature of the plan), and on top of that they were exiles. No one truly knew what kind of records the upper crust of Taris kept on those who had been exiled, and they felt it was very unlikely that a child of an exile, or even a third generation exile would be immediately recognized, but this was too risky to leave anything to chance.

So Seth was chosen to go.

Next was basically convincing the exiles to let them take not only every single credit they had managed to save, but also a few of their most valuable pieces, including a pretty decent pistol, a pair of compact but high quality power cells, and some nice jewelry. Put together, it was about a thousand credits worth of stuff. Between the four of them, they'd managed to convince the exiles that they were onto something big, something really big, and absolutely needed it. And so they'd gathered it up and moved on to the next part.

Cleaning Seth up.

He didn't have to look great, but he at least had to seem like he belonged in the Lower City. So he'd taken a long shower and they'd dressed him in probably the best clothes they had, which still looked like crap. But they looked like clothes you'd see in the slums, not a bombed-out, war-torn settlement. Unfortunately, he couldn't wear his armor because it would make him stick out too much. But Nova at least gave him her basic combat armor, which he pulled a large overcoat on over. After securing everything and making sure his own blaster was secured and ready, because he'd probably run into at least some kind of trouble up there, he'd left.

And that was how Seth found himself stepping out of a disused and, honestly probably forgotten maintenance shaft that led from the Undercity to the Lower City. He'd wanted to use an elevator but Nova had talked him out of it, pointing out that the Sith had a lot of the elevators either locked down or on guard. As soon as he was out of the maintenance shaft, he found himself in a small, empty room and took a few moments to get his breath back. Part of him was embarrassed and pissed off that he needed the break, but damn it, he'd been going hard for like five days at this point, the last three days especially.

As soon as he felt good enough, Seth wiped sweat from his forehead, (it had been a good hundred meter climb), and stepped out of the only door in the room. It led out into a narrow alleyway that reeked of garbage and rotting meat. Shoving his hands into his deep pockets, Seth moved quickly down the alley, hoping that the info Seri had given him would be enough to actually get him there. This plan was far too loose for his liking, but unfortunately, this was the reality of the situation. This was what they had to work with.

He came out into a main thoroughfare that stretched away from him to either side. It looked fairly crowded, several dozen people coming and going, talking to each other, eyeing the others suspiciously around them. Some were selling things, some buying. There was a good mix of the species here, humans, twi'leks, a few ithorians, some cathar, some droids. It felt close to the kind of places he was used to hanging out in. He felt surprisingly comfortable here. Although he did note that a certain tension settled over him.

Places like this were certainly dangerous.

Even as he moved down the thoroughfare, stepping around people, keeping up a good pace, he noticed that he was drawing a few eyes. Most people looked away, but a few gazes lingered on him. Not good. Especially when he recognized them as Drek gang members. When he saw them, he felt his good mood slip a notch, anger bubbling up.

He hated them. In a way, it was because they had come to seem a manifestation of the cruel sentient element of Taris. The rakghouls were too mindless, the rich elite were too faceless and far away, the awful environment was too vague. But the Dreks were here and now, very intentionally causing problems, hurting people. Killing people, even. They were doing this on purpose. So when he realized that a trio of the Dreks were starting to follow him, he almost smiled. They were going to try something stupid.

Did they somehow know who he was? What he and Nova had done?

He doubted it, they didn't look particularly emotional. More opportunistic. Maybe they pegged him for a wannabe gangster or a tourist trying to look tough. Well, fine then. Seth kept going, heading right as soon as the opportunity presented itself, down a smaller pathway. Less traffic here, which was good. He didn't want anyone getting hurt but those three assholes. He kept going, taking another two turns until finally he slipped into an alleyway. They were a lot closer now, and as soon as he moved into that alley, he heard them start running.

Perfect.

Seth freed his sidearm and crouched down, aiming up. He waited, listening to them getting closer. The second the first one rounded the corner, looking up, too high, his own blaster pistol held loosely in his grasp, Seth fired. The Drek, a scrawny twi'lek with a nasty sneer and a torn black vest, managed to look down in honest shock about a split second before the bolt took him in the face, right above the eye in that stupid tattoo of his.

The next guy, a pale, buff human that looked like he'd had muscle grafted onto his frame, making him look weirdly bulky and uneven, skidded to a halt too late. Seth fired a second time and put a bolt right into his mouth open. The back of his head blew open in a spray of seared meat and scorched bone fragments.

The third was quicker on his feet, skidded to a halt before getting into Seth's line of sight, and then began beating a hasty retreat.

"Too late," Seth muttered as he launched to his feet and stepped out of the alleyway. He aimed and fired a third time.

The bolt hit the running Drek in the back of the head and sent him flying forwards. He hit the metal plates and slid a few feet, limbs askew, and came to a complete stop. Seth looked around. Whoever was around had cleared out immediately. Although that might not remain true. He began to leave, then hesitated, looking at the bodies he'd just made.

Well…

More credits was better than less credits.

He crouched by the nearest corpse and began patting it down.

* * *

Seth studied the building for a few seconds before making his final approach on it. This had to be the place. He'd managed to snag about a hundred credits, a battered but functional stealth unit, and a pair of blasters from the thugs. The building Seri had sent him to was an old clinic simply called the Lower City Health Center.

He stepped inside and immediately felt a sense of oppressive gloom, a place that reeked of desperation and hopelessness. Seth hated hospitals, and he especially hated small budget clinics because the idea of being in awful wretched poverty _and_ being in pain or sick and having to come to this place where you may or may not get help, and got to go into debt for the privilege of figuring that out…

Well, it wasn't something he had to imagine.

He'd lived it.

A single nurse, a tired-looking twi'lek in faded scrubs, sat behind the desk. Mercifully, there was no one actually waiting right now.

"Help you?" she asked.

"I need to speak with Doctor Marhal," Seth replied.

"Do you have an appointment?" she asked uncertainly.

"Not exactly. But it's very important that I speak with him."

"You need an appointment to-"

"It's okay, Linz. Please, back here, sir." They both looked over as an exhausted middle-aged human man with a shaved bald head and a doctor's coat appeared in a side doorway. Seth turned and moved over to him. Marhal led him down a short corridor and into a poorly lit office. The man collapsed into a chair behind it and then fished out a battered pack of cigarettes from one of his pockets and lit up.

"Want one?" he asked.

"Sure," Seth replied. He smoked off and on through the years, and there was something oddly comforting about it under certain circumstances. And these circumstances felt right. Seth accepted one of the cheap cigs and lit up, inhaled, blew out a cloud of smoke.

"So who are you? I assume you're not here for the typical help that I offer. You don't look hurt. You a smuggler?" he asked.

"No," Seth replied. "I need your help. Seri sent me."

He sat up, becoming more focused. "Seri? I haven't heard from her in a _long_ time...how is she?" he asked.

"She's living in the Undercity."

"Oh my...that's horrible. Is she...I mean, is she okay?"

"She's doing pretty good, considering the circumstances."

"How do you know her?"

"I...it's a long story. Suffice to say that we're helping each other right now. She saved my life and has been looking after me. I've got my own problems and reasons for being down there. But...we need some help," Seth said.

"What do you need?"

"I'm looking for a very rare part for a ship. I've been told that you may know some people who can get their hands on this," Seth explained.

Marhal began nodding, but a look of distress, then hesitant regret came onto his face. "I can point you in the right direction, and normally I would do this gratis for Seri. She's helped me a lot. But...I need something. Desperately. And I think you can help me with it. I don't know who else to turn to. Honestly, you showing up here and now...it feels a little like the Force."

Seth shifted uncomfortably. "What is it?" he asked.

"My son...has fallen in with some unsavory people. Yes, ironic, I know, given who I have connections with. But the only reason I agreed to work with the smugglers was so that I could take better care of him. I actually didn't think he would sign on with some degenerate gang."

"The Dreks?"

Marhal shook his head. "No. One of the smaller gangs. He disappeared a few days ago after we had a big fight. He's just seventeen. He's a bit of an idiot, but he isn't a bad person. I just...need someone to convince him to at least talk to me. I used my contact in the smuggling network to track him down, and they got me the information this morning. I've been trying to figure out what to do with it since then..."

"Give it to me, I'll find him," Seth said, eager to be going.

"Okay..." The doctor spent a moment searching through his desk, then finally putted a slim datapad from a drawer. "The address and a map are in there. Please...be careful."

"I will do everything I can to ensure no harm comes to him," Seth said, looking over the map in the datapad.

"Thank you. I'll, uh...I'll get back in touch with my contact. What's the part you need?"

"Oh yeah. Here." Seth reached into his pocket and pulled out his own datapad, passing it briefly to the doctor, who took it, studied it, then nodded and passed it back.

"Okay," he said, picking up another pad and copying the information down. "I'll try to have something by the time you get back."

"Thank you."

"Good luck."

"You, too."

Seth turned and left, heading out of the clinic, his pace brisk.


	11. Chapter 11: Just Red

Thankfully, the doctor had a picture of his son in the datapad he'd given Seth. It didn't occur to him that he'd completely forgotten to ask that until he'd left the clinic and walked for a few hundred meters. That was probably a good indicator of how screwed up he was just then. His headache was back and his body was aching and he was irritable. Seth studied the info as he walked on, and once he'd memorized the map, he set a good pace and tried to keep to himself, stuffing his hands deep into his pockets.

He wanted to be done with this.

He wanted to be off this miserable, awful cesspit of a world.

Seth tried to clear his head as he finished his little trip through the Lower City. Or this portion of it at least. As he came into another section, making his way slowly down one of the other thoroughfares, he could tell he'd come to a worse area. There were fewer people around, and those few that were in the area seemed to be sticking to themselves, trying to hurry to wherever it was they were going. Fine by him, the fewer people around the better.

Extractions were tough, especially if the person involved might not want to be extracted. Then again, this might not be an extraction. Seth wasn't sure what he was going to do, honestly. He was going in essentially blind. He didn't know the layout of the apartment building, didn't know if anyone was going to be there, or if they were, how many or how armed they were? Well, he was just going to have to wing it.

Seth thought that he was at least...kind of decent at doing that.

Not like he had a lot of options right now. But he did have a good bonus on his side: the stealth unit he'd picked up earlier. He moved in between derelict apartment buildings and heavily grilled and shuttered storefronts, past drifts of garbage and even the occasional corpse that was apparently just left to rot where it had fallen. Somewhere distant, he heard blaster fire, and someone shouting. Occasionally, in between the buildings, he caught sight of a tram shooting by on its rails, embedded in the area beyond the structures.

The Lower City's design was strange and dangerous and worrying. There were places that were just exposed to the massive drop down to the Undercity with seemingly little done to protect against the hundred meter fall. How many corpses were down there, resting on the roof of the Undercity? He didn't want to think about it.

Seth found the apartment. It didn't look all that much different from the others. The windows were mostly shuttered, the front door was closed, the place looked like crap, filthy and rusted in several areas. Garbage was scattered across the walkway in front of it. He kept walking, moving to the side apartment and slipping into the alleyway there. Okay, time for the run. Still not too sure what precisely he was going to do, Seth activated the stealth unit. He double-checked it and saw that it _should_ be good for about half an hour of continuous use. Hopefully he could get in and out in that time frame. He began checking the windows.

All of them on the bottom floor were shut up tight.

He found an old ladder lashed to the side of the structure and made his way up it. It creaked and groaned occasionally, but held until he reached the top, finding no other windows that were easily accessible. No one on the roof at least. He crept over to what seemed to be a maintenance hatch and checked it out. It was old, to be sure, and in need of some maintenance itself, but it was still functional at least.

Seth opened it up.

Staring down into the room it led into, he froze as his eyes fell on a prone figure, lying on the floor, unmoving.

Crap.

Was it a dead body they'd stashed away?

One of the gang members sleeping off some drugs or booze?

A prisoner?

After a few seconds he realized that whoever it was, (they were mostly obscured by shadows and faced away from him), they were at least alive. Well, time to deal with this problem. Carefully, Seth lowered himself into the room, moving down the short ladder affixed to the wall nearest him. He put his feet down gently on the metal plate floor and then moved over to the body. Pulling out his blaster, he crouched and then placed a hand on the body's shoulder. No reaction. They were either faking or out cold.

He rolled the body.

"Aw crap," he whispered.

It was the doc's son, and he'd been beaten within an inch of his life. His face was bruised badly, one eye swollen shut, lower lip split, blood on his face. Suddenly, the good eye opened up. "Who-who's there?" he groaned, trying to move.

"Relax, I'm here to help," Seth replied.

The one good eye rolled, looked around, uncertain. "Where are you?"

"I've got a stealth unit, hold on." Seth deactivated it. "What happened to you?"

"Who are you?"

"Nobody you know. I was sent by your father to talk some sense into you. What happened to you?" Seth repeated.

"My father?" The kid groaned. "Of course. I'm never going to hear the end of this. He was right. These guys are monsters." He groaned and shifted again. "You got any painkillers on you?"

"Yeah, but tell me what happened," Seth replied.

He was trying to reign in his temper. He'd been irritable all day, and it had only gotten worse on his way over here. Obviously they had beat the crap out of him. Why? He doubted it was for anything even approaching a good reason.

"I'll keep it short," the kid groaned, twisting his head and then spitting out a thick mouthful of blood away from Seth. "I thought these guys were a good gang to join. They let me start running with them after I robbed someone. But then I started to hear them brag about stuff they'd done. Killing people. Bad stuff like that. I didn't want to kill anyone. I knew I'd screwed up when we were out for a robbery today. Broke into some apartment. Old couple was there. A pair of twi'leks. They didn't have much, but they weren't going to take the robbery sitting down, I guess. The guys I was with...they killed them. Like it was nothing. Shot them in the head. When we got out, I tried to leave, said I wanted out, they didn't react too well to that. They beat me and threw me in here, told me they were going to give me some time to think about my decision..."

Seth felt his eye twitching, his stomach churning, heart pounding.

He was losing his battle with anger.

"Hold still," Seth said, pulling out the medical kit he'd brought with him. It seemed like a good idea and now he was glad he'd made room for it.

"I think my leg is broken," the kid said.

Seth felt his control slip another notch.

"I'm going to knock you out, then I'm going to deal with your 'friends', and then I'm going to take you back to your father," Seth said as he grabbed an injector of heavy painkiller and sedative.

"I don't want to go back to him," the kid muttered.

"Too bad. That's my job. And clearly you need medical help, which he is quite qualified to deal with. Stop being such an idiot."

The kid began to respond, but Seth injected him and within a few seconds he went slack again, unconscious. He replaced the medical kit then checked his vitals. Good and strong, he was out like he was supposed to be.

And now Seth could deal with everyone in this apartment building.

As he stood up, he realized that he no longer had anything else to focus on but the facts that had been presented to him. The gang. Their atrocities. Their heartlessness. And it seemed to stack on everything else he'd seen and experienced so far.

Reaching for the door, Seth's control didn't slip a notch.

It collapsed and dissolved.

* * *

When it was over, the kid in his arms as he staggered back through the Lower City, Seth didn't remember a whole lot.

He remembered faces. And screaming.

He remembered blaster fire.

He remembered drawing a sword, his or someone else's he didn't know, and cleaving through armor and flesh and meat.

And bone.

Mostly, though, Seth remembered...red. Just red.

Red in his vision, red running down the walls, red splashing onto the floor.

He knew he had snapped, and he knew that he had killed at least a dozen people. He'd stalked through the corridors of that rundown apartment, owned by a bunch of punks calling themselves a gang. He'd kicked his way into several rooms, shooting everyone he'd found. No...not everyone, he remembered as he walked back through the thoroughfares, covered in blood, carrying an unconscious teenager.

He remembered seeing a twi'lek woman, an escort maybe, clearly not a gang member. He'd screamed for her to get out of there.

At some point, after he'd killed everyone, Seth remembered rifling through their pockets, snagging whatever credits he could find. He could feel those credit chips in his coat pocket, and he wondered how many he'd managed to snag, and if it would all be enough for that part they were trying to track down. Thoughts drifted through his jittery head as he hurried back to the clinic, but mainly there was just a low-thrumming frequently of terror.

Utter terror.

Seth had completely lost his mind in that apartment. That hadn't happened for...for a very long time. And he wasn't sure if it had ever happened so utterly, so thoroughly. Probably the scariest fact was that he simply had not expected it. He'd been agitated, and pissed off, and really angry, sure, but up until pretty much that last instant leaving the room that held the doctor's son, he'd felt basically in control of himself.

In a way, he was sure that he was more surprised and afraid of his snap than the lowlife pistol jockeys he'd murdered.

This was a deeply concerning development.

Seth came at last to the clinic and hurried inside.

"Need some help here! Where's Doctor Marhal!?" he snapped.

Now there were people in the waiting area of the clinic, of course. Everyone turned to look at him, and he saw all of them stiffen and subtly (and not so subtly) try to put some more distance between him and them, even if they were across the room. Well, he was sure he looked like a serial killer right then, with the amount of blood on him.

The far door opened.

"Oh by the Force, Steven," he heard Marhal say. Seth turned and marched over to him. "Please tell me he's alive."

"He's alive," Seth replied as they slipped through the doors and moved quickly down the hallway. Neither man spoke as they kept going to the end of the hallway, turning left, then entering through one of a dozen doors. They came to a simple exam room and Marhal had Seth set his son down on the examination table there.

He hit a button on the old, scratched control panel built into the side of the table.

"What happened?" he asked as he moved across the room and began gathering up medical supplies.

"Your son found out a little too late that the gang he was so eager to join were nothing but walking, talking garbage," Seth replied. His words sounded distant to him and darkness was beginning to boil around the edges of his vision. He felt like passing out and throwing up as the horror of his utter loss of control continued welling within him, rearing back like a tidal wave on the horizon, rushing towards him with an immutable, unstoppable motion.

"I told him..." Marhal muttered as he moved back and forth, setting down medical supplies and injections and bandages as he gathered them from around the room.

"When he tried to leave, they beat him within an inch of his life. I...dealt with them," Seth murmured, and something in his voice must have snagged Marhal's attention enough to actually get the doctor to pay attention to him again.

"Oh my, you look like you're about to pass out. Sit. Now. Close your eyes, focus on breathing," he said, dragging a chair over.

Seth sat, closed his eyes, and focused on breathing.

He did this for several moments, listening to Marhal begin to go about cleaning his son up and tending to his wounds. When he opened his eyes again, the darkness was no longer there, and his heart rate was calming down. He still felt sick, and his headache was considerably worse, but he no longer felt like vomiting or passing out.

"Did you find what I was looking for?" he asked.

"What? Oh, yes. Um...I don't want to leave this to anyone else," Marhal murmured. "In my office, there's a datapad in the top right drawer. It has all the information you need on it. Also, in the closet of my office, you should find some spare clothing. You're going up to the next level, to the Upper City, and blood will draw a lot of unwanted attention. Up there it all belongs to the rich and the Sith. You can leave your other clothes here. I'll, uh...deal with them. And you can catch a shower too, if you want. The room right next to my office is my private bathroom and it has a shower stall."

"Thanks," Seth said, standing.

"No, thank you. You very likely saved his life. If there's anything else you need, please tell me," Marhal replied.

Seth considered it as he turned to leave, his finger hovering over the open button, then he turned back. "Can you spare any medical supplies?"

"Some, yes, I could."

"All right, I'll need some painkillers right now, but prepare a package for me, whatever you can spare, and I'll pick it up when I can," Seth replied.

"Okay, I will. Painkillers are actually to your right, in that cabinet there. Just take a bottle."

Seth nodded and retrieved the bottle. He still had some painkillers in the medical kit he'd brought with him, but the more the merrier at this point.

"Whatever it is you're doing, good luck," Marhal said.

"Good luck with your son, doc," Seth replied, and left the room.

He moved slowly at first, as if he was getting his bearings back after a bad overnight drunk or how he sometimes felt when he was coming away from a particularly brutal battle. It took him a moment to remember where the doctor's office was, but he managed to track it down, and found the datapad and the spare set of clothes. Definitely nicer than what he had on, even before the blood. He found the bathroom and stripped naked.

His body still looked like crap, pale and bruised, scars and scrapes and cuts. His face, he realized for the first time since crash-landing, was stained with dark hair. He preferred stubble for a beard. Snagging an electric razor, Seth turned the shower up as hot as he could stand it, then slipped in. He luxuriated for as long as he could, because this place actually had decent pressure and just generally felt better than anything down in the Undercity. But he only managed that for so long before he again felt the press of time.

Lives were counting on him.

He buzzed his beard away and washed himself up as best he could, then killed the water, dried off, and dressed. The armor and the coat were a loss because they were so thoroughly stained with blood, and he figured that Marhal had a point. They would only grant him undue suspicion up top. With some reluctance, after transferring everything over to his pockets, he dumped the armor and clothing in the doctor's office.

After deciding against checking in with Marhal one more time, Seth instead headed out of the clinic as fast as he could without actually running.

And made for the Upper City.


	12. Chapter 12: Silver & Sunshine

The doctor, or maybe whoever had sent the information over, had managed to include a pretty useful map in the datapad, leading him away from the clinic, to a safe place to surface in the Upper City, and then finally to the location of the seller. Several thoughts were drifting through Seth's head as he rode the old maintenance lift up, like starships gliding soundlessly across space, viewed from a window.

Was this legit?

What if someone recognized him as a Republic soldier?

What if something else went wrong?

What if rakghouls had attacked while he was gone?

But Seth was strangely insulated from these concerns by the fact that he was mainly just focusing on two things. One: get to his destination. Two: don't freak out. Changing his clothes and having a shower had helped calm him down, but right now it felt like he was walking on very thin ice, and it could crack at literally any second, plunging him into the icy depths of madness. His actions at the rundown apartment complex had really freaked him out, more so than he had initial realized. And initially he'd thought it was pretty bad.

His hands were shaking, his head was throbbing, his mouth was dry. Oh man...what if he had caught something? Down in the Undercity? How many diseases were out there where psychosis or mood swings were a common symptom? Then again, Seth had never had particularly good control of his emotions, and he'd certainly snapped before…

The lift shuddered to a halt, settling into its metal nest, and released him, its doors parting and disappearing into their niches. Seth took a few seconds to collect himself, but the effort was lost as the doors began closing again and he had to hastily shove himself out of the lift. "Piece of crap thing," he growled, resisting the suddenly almost overwhelming impulse to turn around and punch the closed elevator doors.

He took a deep breath, let it out slowly, tried to calm himself.

If he did something stupid up here, it could get him killed a lot easier than the Lower City or the Undercity, because up here, the Sith no doubt reigned supreme. Seth looked around the area he'd come to. It was another back section, tucked away from the general population, but already he could see a massive improvement. The metal here was clean and shiny, there was no garbage anywhere, and he saw sunshine, real sunlight streaming in through a few windows and an opening to the right. Feeling drawn towards it, Seth walked forward.

And came out into a place of wonder.

The opening led to a platform of white metal, and he felt the sunshine on his skin, a cool breeze whispering across his face, moving his hair. Staring around him, Seth felt something he hadn't felt in a long time: true awe. Above him, the sky was a pure, clean blue, and he saw the spires, the towers of Taris reaching skywards, pristine and smooth, silver and pastel. They were beautiful. Ships of varying make and model zipped by overhead. And it even smelled nice up here, crisp and clear, with a faint whiff of something sweet, like fresh doughnuts from a bakery. And the people. There were so many people walking around on the platform ahead of him…

Seth caught sight of a different kind of silver, and the effect was immediately lost.

Sith. There were a good half-dozen Sith troopers, clad in their head-to-toe, high-tech silver armor, touting their blaster rifles of polished metal, swords on their hips. Bastards. He had a pistol tucked down the back of his pants, it was the only one he could bring, and it was the expensive one. He had to fight not to pull it out and start picking off Sith. It would be so easy...at first. But then they'd swarm and murder his ass.

There were always more of the bastards.

Like insects.

Despite the Sith presence, something about the Upper City had a very calming effect on him. Seth collected his thoughts and gently pushed down his emotions, submerging them for now. He could deal with the emotional fallout later...provided there _was_ a later. But now he had to focus. Dozens of people were counting on him with their very lives. He set off, still feeling that kind of ambient wonder as he began moving along a large platform that granted access to a dozen different buildings. A few apartments, what looked like a warehouse, a bakery, a cafe, and access points to other platforms. Taris was so strangely beautiful.

Seth tried not to let himself get distracted, but after the horror of the Undercity and the filthy grittiness of the Lower City, it was hard not to become enraptured by the clean silver gleam of the Upper City. He moved off of the main platform he'd arrived on, trying to look casual as he walked across a bridge and come onto another, smaller platform. The way to where he was going, at least, wasn't all that difficult to remember, nor that far away from his current position. Despite how much he liked it out here, Seth was a little surprised to find himself actually eager to get the stuff and get back to the Undercity.

Although this place had sunshine and silver towers and clean air, it was a trick, he knew. It was just as deadly up here as it was down below, maybe more so, because the Sith could decide, at any moment, that they didn't like the way you looked, or maybe they were just in a bad mood and you were the poor bastard they decided to take their anger out on, and who would stop them? Who would help you? No one, because they didn't want to join you on your path to pain and likely death. Because if they tried to help you, who would help them?

Seth tried not to think about it and kept his head down.

He made it to the location indicated on the map ten minutes later and found himself stepping into a cool, clean lobby. There was just one woman behind the desk, a twi'lek, and she smiled an artificial smile at him.

"Hello, sir. How can I help you?"

This had been in the datapad as well, at least. Which was good, because Seth wasn't feeling too keen on his ability to bluff right now.

"I'm here to see Mister Warner," he replied.

The woman consulted a terminal in front of her, then nodded. "Very good, sir. He is expecting you. Just go into that elevator there, ride it up to the next level. His office is dead ahead, at the very end of the hallway there."

"Thank you," Seth said, and did as she instructed.

Despite how smooth this was going, he couldn't help but feel apprehension seeping slowly into his body as he boarded the elevator and rode it up. Or maybe because of how smoothly it was going. With how freaking awful his luck had been lately, this just felt suspicious. But he knew he was being paranoid, he had to be. Right now, he wasn't sure _what_ he should be feeling. Rage? Terror? Resignation? Guilt?

All seemed somehow applicable.

Telling himself to cool it, he left the lift as it settled into place and moved down a smooth, polished, brightly lit corridor. Offices lined the walls to either side of him. He wondered what kind of business this was, or what it was supposed to be, anyway. Obviously some kind of front if a smuggler contact was located here.

He found Warner's office and hit the call button. There was a brief pause, and he had an idea that he was being scanned, then the doors opened to reveal a large office dominated by a big wooden desk. A man sat behind the desk, and he was framed by floor-to-ceiling windows behind him that showed a pristine, serenely beautiful view of the cityscape beyond.

"Hello, sir," he said. "Please, come in. I'm afraid I didn't catch your name, our...mutual acquaintance didn't think to give it."

"Callisten," Seth lied almost without thinking as he took a seat.

"Very well Mister Callisten. I'll keep this brief, you seem like a busy man."

"Thank you."

Seth studied the man, who was human, perhaps middle-aged, though with the benefit of some gene boosting or cosmetic surgery. His black hair was slicked back, his blue eyes shining with intelligence and something subtler, craftier, beneath the surface, his black suit cut expertly. He resembled a businessman, which was kind of funny. In Seth's experience, businessmen were just more experienced, subtler smugglers, thieves, or con artists.

They tended to get away with screwing you out of your credits legally.

"Now, the part you need, it was indeed rare, but I happen to have it in store at one my warehouses. I was saving it for the right buyer, and he apparently is you, as fortune would have it. Now, let's talk pricing," Warner said.

"How much?" Seth asked, feeling his gut tighten. He didn't exactly have a lot of access to more credits than he had on him now.

"I'm feeling...adventurous today. How much do you have on you?" he asked.

"Let me see," Seth replied.

He just wanted the damned part. He stood up and emptied his pockets, setting all the credits and small, valuable things he'd managed to gather up over his journey so far. They spent a bit sorting through it, and he could see Warner thinking it over.

"Okay," he murmured, "just shy of a thousand credits. And these pieces here should fetch maybe six or seven hundred credits in the right market...tell you what, give me this and the pistol you have on you and it's a deal."

Seth didn't bother asking how the man knew about the pistol. Likely it was the scan he'd sensed earlier, so he just pulled the pistol out slowly and set it carefully down on the desk beside the pile of credits and valuables.

No telling what kind of defenses the guy had hidden away around the office.

"Perfect!" Warner declared, smiling merrily. "If you have a datapad on you, I can upload a map to the warehouse where you'll find the part. One of my men will be waiting to deliver it to you."

Seth nodded and passed him the datapad, waited for him to plug it into his terminal, (no doubt his terminal swept the pad for all information and made a copy, not that there was anything worthwhile on there anyway), and then passed it back.

"Thank you, Mister Warner," Seth said.

"And thank you, Mister Callisten. Farewell and good luck."

Seth just nodded, pocketed the datapad, and left.

One step closer to freedom.

* * *

Thoughts of Nova kept creeping into his skull as he tracked down the warehouse.

He felt embarrassed and kind of frustrated, but whatever, he was alone with his thoughts right now. In a way, his attraction to Nova was his problem with relationships in a nutshell. He knew that a lot guys tended to be attracted to women who were, in some way...weaker wasn't really the right word, more like...less strong willed, than they were. Women who were more demure or submissive. And for whatever reason, he'd never gone that route. Not like he had a choice. From what he'd been able to determine, you didn't really get to choose who you were attracted to.

Seth was a stubborn idiot with a hard head, and he supposed being attracted to strong-willed, competent, capable women was as good a thing as it was bad. Probably better, actually. He felt pretty confident that he'd never be abusive, but he knew that if certain relationship dynamics were at play, he might inadvertently take over the relationship and kind of just steamroll over the other person's desires. Which was a bad relationship, and would make him a bad partner.

He was attracted to tough, no-nonsense women who tended to be more stubborn than he was.

As a result, the relationships he was in, such as they were, were often fierce and passionate...and short-lived.

They often blew up before too long.

He'd certainly gotten a lot better at recognizing some of his faults, and at least going into relationships with his eyes as open as possible. What this boiled down to was the fact that he tended to have casual flings rather than relationships.

And that had worked out at least decently for him.

And now he was extremely attracted to Nova, he was realizing. And why not? Besides _being_ extremely attractive, she was competent, brave, intelligent. Clearly she was stubborn and determined. There was a lot to like about her.

Should he maybe…

No. He shouldn't. Not while they were still on Taris. Not as extremely tempting as it was to hope that maybe she might entertain the idea of a quick hop in bed, because Force knew they could both use the stress relief. But was she even remotely attracted to him? He really didn't know. Had she shown any signs of being into him? If she had, he'd missed them. Why would she be, anyway? Seth knew he was pretty unattractive, it was something he'd had to just accept. He shook his head in frustration at all these thoughts.

First, get off of Taris alive with the others.

Then, maybe, he could ask her out on a date or something.

"There you are," Seth whispered, seeing the warehouse he'd been heading towards for the past twenty minutes.

It sat at the end of a row of warehouses, tucked away in a back corner of a platform. This area was definitely less traveled. Seth thought through the plan as he approached the main entrance. Get the part, get back to the Undercity, then help Nova and Yex fix the vessel, then, hopefully, get the exiles to the ship and get off Taris.

Seth reached the door. He knocked on it. There was a pause, then the door slid open, giving a view into the vast area beyond. He didn't see anyone.

"Hello?" Seth asked, walking slowly into the area beyond. "I'm here to pick up-"

His words degenerated into a scream as he felt a wave of pure agony wash over him, originating from the right side of his neck.

Seth had just enough time to think _That's a Bothan stunner_ before he was unconscious.


	13. Chapter 13: Agony

Seth opened his eyes to a world of pain.

For several seconds, he simply laid there...wherever he was, and tried to figure out what had gone wrong this time. All he could see was a scarred, pitted, old plate-metal ceiling. He smelled blood. He heard a hum of power from somewhere nearby, and something drip-drip-dripping as well. Otherwise, his senses told him nothing, save for the fact that his whole body hurt. Particularly his neck. This pain was familiar…

And that little seed of knowledge was what gave him his memories back.

A Bothan stun stick. Someone had hit him with one. Damn, those things hurt like a bitch. His whole body ached more than it had before, and now, on top of an awful, seemingly omnipresent headache, his neck hurt pretty bad, too. It was probably burned. Great. So what was this about? Seth slowly, miserably sat up. He was lying on a very simple mattress shoved into one corner of a windowless room. He took it in slowly, feeling a panicky, creeping horror begin to seep icily into his guts. The only other thing in the room was a toilet.

The walls were barren, save for one section of one wall that resembled a window turned opaque, a kind of milky white color where only the vaguest of shapes could be seen through. Okay, so, he'd been captured. Knocked out and captured. But why? What could they want from him? Surely they'd been able to determine that he really had given up basically everything in his bid to get the part. Had he been mistaken for someone else? Or was this totally unrelated to Warner? Someone else was getting in on his business, maybe a hostile takeover or a robbery, and Seth had walked right into the middle of it without realizing?

Something was moving beyond the smoked glass, a vague figure.

Well, hopefully he'd get some answers soon.

The shadowy figure stopped moving, then the window went clear. A face stared in at him. It wore an ugly smile.

"Warner," Seth said.

" _Yes. Hello Callisten,"_ Warner replied merrily, his voice being piped in from a hidden speaker somewhere nearby.

"What do you want?" he asked.

" _Straight to the point is appreciated, and will help you here. I didn't get to where I am without gathering knowledge and thorough research. And I know that the part you were looking for, which I do actually have, by the way, is only useful in one thing: it's a core component of an old radar scrambler. An old but powerful one. Which would only be of use to you if you were planning on getting off this planet and past the Sith quarantine,"_ Warner replied.

Seth didn't know there was an actual quarantine in effect now, only that they had a kind of vague orbital blockade. Well, crap. That would make this a bit more complicated.

"What difference would that make?"

" _My research has indicated that the radar scrambler, in the right ship, has a good chance of making it past the quarantine. I have such a ship, but I don't have the scrambler. So, simply put, give me the scrambler and you can go."_

"I don't know what you're talking about," Seth replied, his voice flat.

Warner's cheery smile faltered. _"Callisten...while I would prefer not to resort to...darker methods of information extraction, I will if I must."_

"I don't know what you're talking about, Warner. I wanted that part for something else."

Warner sighed. _"Very well."_

He reached over to his right and suddenly Seth's world went white, turning into sizzling, screaming, burning agony that engulfed his entire being. It was almost like he was briefly transported to another dimension of pure pain.

When he got his senses back, Seth opened his eyes and realized that he'd dropped to his hands and knees. He looked up slowly, breath coming ragged, his whole body burning. He'd broken out into a heavy sweat.

" _That's what you're going to face if you don't give me what I want,"_ Warner said almost regretfully.

Seth slowly got back to his feet and looked dead into the man's eyes. "I don't have the information you're asking for, Warner," he said, his voice still flat.

Warner sighed and activated the torture field again.

Seth screamed, and the only thing he could think was: _Not again._

* * *

He didn't know how much time passed.

No more than a few days, though certainly, in his mind at least, it all seemed to drag on into eternity. That was something that some people didn't get or fully realize about being held against your will, especially by someone trying to torture information out of you. When you were isolated in a cell where your captor could come back at any moment, every second was felt. Even a single minute could seem to stretch on and on and on. Because there was nothing else to focus on. Seth was in a blank, bare cell. No one to talk to, nothing to listen to, nothing to look at, really. Alone with his thoughts, when he was alone, free from Warner.

The sadistic smuggler showed up periodically, asked him the same questions, then tortured him off and on with the energy field that lit up his nerve endings with electric agony. He would do it until Seth passed out.

Twice, (or was it three times?), two strong, silent men came into the cell and beat the living crap out of him. He tried to combat them each time, but he was left too weak by dehydration and hunger and, mainly, pain.

And so instead he just ended up in a ball on the floor while two big, silent, sadistic monsters kicked his ass. It was like being a kid again and the school bullies had tracked him down and there were no grownups in sight.

Almost worse than the beating was the burning shame and humiliation of the whole thing. He was soldier, a twelve year veteran, and here he was getting his head kicked in. He threw up more than once. He pissed himself at least once, he thought.

And he cried. More than he would ever care to admit to anyone if he lived to tell this particularly miserable tale.

But he wouldn't give his friends up. In the back of his head, Seth clung on to the notion that he was going to break his way out of his cell, kill Warner and his men, track down the part, and somehow make his way back to the Undercity.

At the very least, he refused to say anything.

And kept getting beaten and tortured.

* * *

Seth opened his eyes.

Something new was happening, or at least something uncommon. What was it? Where was he again? Why did he hurt _so_ much?

"Oh my...oh Seth..."

That voice…

It was like...paradise. It was wondrous. Rapturous.

Was this a dream?

He tried to move, to talk, but everything hurt too much. Suddenly, a face appeared in his vision, and he saw her.

"Nova," he whispered.

"What the Force did they do to you?" she whispered harshly, and the look on her face, the horror, was plain, and spoke a great deal about his current condition.

"Are you really here?" he whispered.

"Oh yes, I'm here Seth," she replied softly, then glanced quickly back over her shoulder. "It's going to be okay. I'm getting you out of here. Damn...hold on." She disappeared for a second, he felt terror steal into his soul, fearing that she would disappear, and he would be left here in this awful place alone again.

Then she returned, and he felt a small prick of pain in his neck, then another one. "Painkiller," she said, "and an adrenaline stimulant. Sorry, but I need you up and moving. I'm not strong enough to carry your heavy ass all the way back to the Undercity, Seth."

His head began to clear as the pain receded to more tolerable levels and his mind focused. "Crap," he growled as the full weight of his situation finally settled back in. "How long has it been since I've left?" he asked as he slowly sat up.

Even through the haze of the painkillers settling over his perception, it was torture to move.

"About two days," Nova replied.

"Damn," he whispered, putting his feet on the floor. He looked down at himself and winced. "Ugh, I did piss myself," he muttered. "I could stand all the blood and the vomit but I'm not a damned kid anymore..." His head swam and darkness boiled at the edge of his vision for a few seconds.

"Focus, Seth," Nova said firmly, placing her hands on his shoulders. "Stand up. Now."

He took a deep breath, then got to his feet with her help. Then screamed.

"What is it?" she asked, her voice edged with worry. She had a blaster in one hand and used the other to support him.

"My everything hurts," he groaned.

"I know, I'm so sorry, but we _have_ to move. We have to get back. It's night right now and the areas we'll be moving through will be mostly deserted. But we really need to go."

"Where's Warner?" Seth growled as he limped out of the cell, leaning heavily on Nova.

"He's dead. So is everyone else in this building," Nova replied grimly.

"Where are we?"

"Some kind of warehouse, I think. In its basement. Come on."

As they made their way up and out, Seth realized that he'd never even left the main warehouse. Warner must have had this area set up for whenever he wanted to kidnap or torture people for whatever reason he felt like that day. They passed a few bodies along the way, and he was deeply gratified to see that one of them was Warner. It looked like Nova had gouged an eye out and slit his throat. It was far too good a death for the bastard.

They left the warehouse and he had to keep biting back cries of agony. Everything hurt. He wanted to beg her for more painkillers. Simply existing was torture. But he knew this was probably about as good as it was going to get in the balance between awareness and numbness. Too many painkillers made him hazy.

"How'd you find me?" he asked as they moved as fast as they could through the Upper City, retracing his route.

"Basically just followed your path," Nova replied. "Went to talk with the doctor after we realized something must have gone wrong. This was a few hours ago. He pointed me towards Warner, who wasn't at his offices. I ended up breaking in and hacking into their security systems. Saw a recording of you and the conversation, managed to pull the address he gave you from the files, came here. Searched the place over."

"Thank you," he gasped. "For coming for me."

"You're welcome, Seth. I'm...I'm so sorry this happened. We thought you might have died or run into the Sith..."

"I kind of wish I was dead right now," he groaned.

"Don't say that. I'll get you back to Seri. She can fix you up."

He just grunted in response.

They had made it down into the Lower City when a realization hit him so hard that he actually stopped, stumbled, and fell out of Nova's grasp. He bit back a powerful scream as a wave of pure pain shot through him, his body hitting the ground hard.

"Damn it!" he cried.

"What's wrong?" Nova asked, dropping into a crouch beside him, trying to help him back up.

"The part! I forgot the damned part! We have to go back!" he growled.

"Oh, don't worry Seth. I got it. That's another bit of information I pulled out of Warner. I have it, Seth. It's in my pocket."

Seth felt a tremendous relief flowing through him, but also a burning fury and shame. Stupid! How could he be so damned stupid as to forget that until now?! He felt like punching a wall or smashing his head through a window. Suddenly, all this pain he was in seemed right. Like he deserved it for being such a moron.

What kind of soldier was he?

He did his best to keep quiet and keep moving, his emotions and self hating thoughts stewing and boiling inside of him. How had he been so stupid as to walk into that trap? He deserved the consequences of his own stupidity.

"Ugh," he groaned after another ten agonizing minutes.

"What?" Nova asked.

"How am I going to get back down? There's absolutely no way I'm going to make a hundred meter climb back down there. Not in this condition. Just..." he sighed. "Just leave me, okay? Find somewhere and leave me and go on."

"I'm not leaving you here, Seth. I'm getting you back to the others."

"Come on, Nova. I'm just a damned burden right now. I'm just dead weight. Just...drop me off somewhere and go."

"You're a real bastard, you know that?" she growled, suddenly angry. "Do you really think so little of me, Seth?"

"What?" he asked, genuinely confused.

"You think I'm so callous, so self-centered, so pathetic that I would agree to abandon you the moment you became even slightly inconvenient to me?" she asked, her voice low and angry.

"No! No, Nova, I'm saying leave me here because it makes sense. Get the part to the others. _That's_ what matters right now. I'm just a dumb soldier who's half decent at fighting, and I'm not even good at that right now."

"We're going to use an elevator that lets out near the settlement, so just shut up, Seth. I am _not_ leaving you behind."

He didn't know what to say to that, so he didn't say anything. Nova seemed content with the silence, and neither of them spoke as they walked on.

* * *

It seemed to take ages. Eras.

It honestly felt like long, agonizing hours.

But finally, finally he was back in the Undercity. As Seth was walked by Nova slowly in between the cobbled-together huts and shacks, he saw pale, unhealthy faces staring out at him with wide eyes. He just hung his head, looking at the ground, not wanting to meet anyone's eyes. Right then, he thought that being seen like this hurt more than actually feeling like this. And then, finally, he was at Seri's shack.

"Oh Seth!" she cried. "You found him! Get him in here now!"

Nova maneuvered him into her shack and the two women managed to get him onto a table, which Seri cleared with a sweep of her arm.

"What happened to him!?" she cried as she began moving rapidly around the room, gathering up supplies and medicine and medical tools.

"Not entirely sure," Nova replied. "Just...help him."

"I will," Seri said firmly.

When she got close to him, Seth reached up, laid a heavy hand on her shoulder. "Seri..." he whispered, darkness at the edges of his vision again, this time a welcome thing, "...don't...don't tell anyone I pissed myself."

And then the darkness consumed him, and he leaped gratefully into the abyss of unconsciousness.


	14. Chapter 14: Leaving Taris

Seth thought the darkness would be total, would be an escape from the pain.

But then he opened his eyes again and found himself lying on a table, immobile, and it was not the table Nova had set him down on.

There was a light on, to his right, angled down at him, and everything around him was thrown into deep shadow.

He had been here before…

It was a place of terror. A place of cold living fear.

A place of pain.

A face swam into view overhead. A man's pale, gaunt face, with eyes of scarlet. He reached out and Seth flinched, but the man paid him no heed. Instead, he tested the restraints that currently held Seth's wrists and ankles against the table.

He wanted to speak, to beg, or demand to be let go, or say anything.

But his words died in his throat.

The man with the gaunt face disappeared and Seth heard nothing. The man moved without a sound. He swallowed, testing the restraints. He had to get out of here, somehow, someway. His parents had to be looking for him…

The man returned. He had a small blade of some kind in his grasp now. He raised it, mouth closed in a gentle frown of concentration.

He began to lower the blade toward Seth's stomach…

Seth started to scream, words tumbling out of his mouth and he began to thrash about, trying desperately to escape, begging the man to stop, promising anything.

Blade met flesh.

* * *

Somehow, when Seth snapped awake, thrust violently back into the land of the conscious, he managed not to scream at the top of his lungs.

Probably what helped was the fact that his whole body hurt, and he was groggy and disoriented. And he recognized where he was. Seri's medical shack. And as he settled down, he heard something nearby: breathing. The soft, steady, quiet respiration of a sleeping person. Seth looked around and saw Nova lying on a mattress on the floor beside him. He frowned, staring at her prone, sleeping form. Why was she here? Surely she had better things to do, or at the very least a better place to sleep. As he was thinking this, she took in a deep breath suddenly and opened her eyes. She rolled over and locked her beautiful blue eyes with his.

"You're awake," she said.

He nodded, uncomfortable, the blind terror of his nightmares still clinging to him. "Um...how long have I been out?" he asked quietly.

Nova sat up and stretched, then got to her feet. "It's the next morning from last night," she replied. "I'm not sure how long it's been since I fell asleep, but Seri and I worked on you for several hours after I got you back...how much do you remember?"

"Enough," Seth replied.

She frowned, then suddenly moved across the room, rummaged around for a moment, then came back and pressed a canteen into his hand.

"You're dehydrated," she said.

"Thanks," he replied, and drained the whole thing. Coughing, he wiped his mouth on the back of his hand and set the canteen down. "Where are we at with the ship?"

"It's basically ready," Nova replied. "Yex came back not long after we got you back when he hadn't heard anything from us for what he considered too long, given that I couldn't go."

"I'm sorry you had to come get me...did anything happen while we were gone?"

"No, we got lucky. Everyone's still okay. But Yex took the part and left immediately. He told me that the ship should be at least flyable today. Yesterday, people started asking questions, and I finally shared the plan with the whole group. Everyone is in line with this plan. In fact, they've all been preparing, packing their stuff. They're excited."

"It'll be dangerous to get to the ship, and that's the easy part, I think," Seth replied.

Nova sighed and nodded. "I know, I think they don't care. I think they're ready to risk their lives for even a chance of getting out of here."

"Okay, so what's left to do? What's stopping us from leaving?" Seth asked.

"Well...Seri has been insistent that we wait for you to heal up before moving through the Undercity," Nova replied.

Seth felt a flash of anger. He stood up suddenly, swayed on his feet as a bout of dizziness hit him, and a wave of pain. "No," he said, almost growled, "we're not staying here on account of my lazy ass. We're going."

"Seth..." Nova replied, hesitant, "you're hurt bad. You need-"

"No. I'm not holding us back. If the only reason we're not going yet is me, then I say we're going. I don't care what Seri says. I'm not holding everyone back."

He looked directly into Nova's eyes. "Seth..." she said, not quite meeting his gaze. Finally, she sighed. "I can understand that. You'll have to contend with Seri, but I get it. I'll start getting everyone ready."

"Thank you," he replied, calming down a little. He looked down at himself as he realized how exposed he felt and saw that he was wearing only a pair of boxers, and not the ones he'd been wearing earlier. He sighed. "I was changed when I was passed out," he muttered.

"Yeah...um, if it makes you feel any better, Seri made me leave for that. She said she'd already seen you naked?"

"Yeah, she joined me in the shower a few times to conserve water and look over my wounds," Seth replied, suddenly awkward.

"Are you and her, uh..."

"No, we're not."

"Oh. Okay." Nova lingered a moment longer, then left. Seth began moving about the shack, hunting for some clothes.

Close now. They were so close to escape.

* * *

He had to argue with Seri for nearly five minutes before she finally relented. She made him get undressed again to check his wounds, which he did with mounting frustration. But he did make sure to let her know that he did appreciate what she had done for him. She had, he was sure, saved his life. Again. After applying some more kolto and re-bandaging his wounds, she seemed satisfied that he was at least able to probably make the trip to the military base. After that, he left her to pack up her medical supplies for the journey.

As he stepped out into the open area, he heard a lot of chatter. Dozens of people were moving about, talking excitedly, all of them very animate and even happy. He felt a stab of guilt at that as he began making for Nova's shack. Sure, they were happy now, believing they were getting off this planet, out of this wretched dark abyss, but...certainly there were going to be casualties. Either from the rakghouls on the way to the ship or even get blown to interstellar dust by the Sith quarantine if something went wrong.

But what was the alternative?

Stay here? Obviously now that they had gotten hold of the notion that there was another option, that didn't seem viable any longer. Although honestly that was kind of inspiring. A lot of people might actually opt to stay here, even if it was horrible...it was a horrible they were familiar with. But not these people. Not these exiles, outcasts, pariahs. Sons and daughters of pariahs, even. No, they were risking it all to leave.

And Seth wasn't going to let himself stand in their way.

He was going to make good on his promise to Nova: he was going to do everything in his own power to get them out of here.

He found Nova in her shack, pulling on a set of combat armor.

"Your armor's there," she said, pointing to the locker.

"Thanks," he replied, hurrying over and beginning the painful process of pulling it on. He didn't even want to think about what he looked like right now, with how bad he was feeling. Neither of them spoke as they geared up. Once the armor was on, they each grabbed guns, energy clips, medical packs, blades, whatever else they might need.

There was no coming back from this.

By the time they were done, they found everyone gathered by the main gate. Seth looked out across the sea of faces, doing a quick headcount. There were thirty in all, including Seri. "Is this everyone?" he asked as he made his way to the front with Nova. "Are we sure?"

"Yes, Seth. This is everyone," Seri confirmed confidently. "I triple checked. Everyone's here."

"All right." He and Nova came to stand at the front with Seri by the gate. A silence had fallen. Everyone was looking at him. Including Seri and Nova.

"What?" he asked. "What are we waiting for?"

"Despite how I might feel about giving up even an ounce of control," Nova said after a few seconds, "you're the best one to lead this operation."

"Me?" he asked, and looked at them all. He could see it in their eyes. Whether or not he actually was qualified to do this, they _believed_ he was. "Crap," he muttered.

"You can do this, Seth," Seri said.

He sighed and rubbed his eyes for a moment, then made himself focus. "Okay, listen up! I'm leading this pack. Nova, you're covering our ass in the back. Is everyone armed?"

"Just about everyone," Seri replied. "We've passed out all the weapons we have."

"Fine. Best way to do this isn't to fight but to avoid it. I tell you to stop or hold up my fist, you all be ready to stop on a damned second's notice. Rakghouls hunt by sight, but we could run into gangs or scavengers. It's a two hour walk and I intend it to stay that way. If you need to go to the bathroom, do it now. We're not stopping if we don't have to."

A few people broke away from the group as he said that and went to relieve themselves. Seth took the time to look over his armor and weapons again, trying not to look nervous. He'd had to play leader more than once, and most of it was looking like you knew what you were doing. The rest of it was actually knowing what you were doing or, barring that, being able to roll with the punches. They were going to need luck for this.

Once everyone had come back, he walked over and hit the access button to the gate. "Any questions? Speak up!" he called.

No one had any questions.

They all knew the score.

"All right. Let's do it!"

* * *

They almost made it.

Seth had almost convinced himself that they were actually going to get to the military base without running into anything serious along the way. They'd had to stop twice, once only about ten minutes in, and that had been a real gutwrencher. There'd been a horde of rakghouls passing by just beyond the alleyway they were preparing to leave. They'd managed to hang back, waiting for the worst to happen, but the rakghouls had passed by without stopping. The second time had just been another, much smaller clutch of rakghouls just half an hour ago.

And now they were actually within sight of the military base itself.

No one had died, nothing had gone wrong. It was looking like a perfect run.

And then, as he began leading them into the large, open courtyard that was all that stood between them and escape, a loud shriek went up. Seth instantly froze up, becoming as still as a statue, blaster pistol in hand, hunting for the origin of the sound. And then he saw it: a rakghoul up on top of a pile of refuse. It had spotted them and was sounding the alarm. He aimed and popped off a shot. It was good, punching a hole right through the thing's big, stupid mouth and bursting the back of its head like ripe fruit.

But it was too late.

A chorus of shrieks rose in the still, dank air of the Undercity, a nightmarish cacophony of terror. And then the rakghouls began to swarm. They came from everywhere. Seth looked around as he tried to assess the situation. They couldn't break and run for the military base, some had been hiding among the debris and were now charging from that direction. No retreat, either. They were coming from behind as well.

They were coming from everywhere.

"Stand and fight! We _have_ to kill them all!" he called.

And that was all the time he had before the fight began. They had been _so close_. He felt sick with rage and fury and pain, but clamped down on it hard. He needed to focus right now, to kill as many of them as possible. He stood fast and opened fire. There were dozens of them. All around him, blaster pistols opened up. People screamed battlecries of fury. His next shot was good, and so was the one after that, turning two sprinting rakghouls into flopping corpses. Next shot missed, but then he turned the eye of another shrieking, scowling rakghoul monster into a spray of dark gore. There were so many of them…

Seth felt his pain evaporate. He was high on the adrenaline, on the conflict itself. His reflexes were amped up, everything seeming to slow very slightly. He kept on firing, putting the old blaster pistol through its paces. All around him, he could hear the others fighting for their lives. A dozen rakghouls fell, then two dozen fell.

And then the others fell upon the exiles.

And there was blood on the air.

Seth drew his blade and sliced open another gray monster as it came for him. Couldn't let even one past, couldn't let the exiles get attacked. But even as he thought that, he heard someone scream in pain. And then another voice rose up.

Gritting his teeth, blood pounding, Seth fought hard. Had to be faster, had to be better. Couldn't fail these people who'd already suffered so much. He had to save them all. _He had to_. He decapitated another rakghoul, sliced through the flesh and bone of another's arm, slashed and cleaved and chopped and swung his blade again and again and again until his muscles burned from exertion. But there were more, there had to be a hundred of the things, two hundred. More were coming all the time, shrieking, slavering maddened gray blurs of death and horror.

And one of them got the best of him, smashed his blade aside and he fell back, groping for his pistol.

The creature raised its clawed hand...then froze.

All of them froze. All became still and silent.

Someone was crying. Someone else was moaning in agony.

And then, just like that, the rakghoul beast that was looming over him turned and ran. No, it didn't run, it _sprinted_. It _fled_.

"What the..." Seth whispered, chest heaving as he tried to get his breath back, adrenaline and blood pounding through his veins. He forced himself back to his feet, grabbing his pistol and his blade, looking around, ready to keep fighting for his life, for the lives of the others. But every rakghoul that wasn't a corpse was currently fleeing madly.

"What's happening?" Nova asked.

He turned around and quickly studied the outcasts. It looked bad. Several of them were injured. He saw at least one dead on the ground, his throat ripped out. And there even more unmoving forms spread out on the ground, bleeding out.

"They've been infected," he replied, his voice barely above a whisper.

Nova followed his gaze. "They are, but what drove the rakghouls off?"

As if in direct answer to the question, the entire area began to shake. Everyone cried out and looked up.

"Is it an earthquake?!" someone called.

"Do they get earthquakes here?" Seth asked. He knew that wild beasts could be driven off by something even more dangerous, something they feared. Natural disasters were on that list, and some creatures could sense them coming.

"No," one of the older exiles said, "I've never heard of one."

Abruptly, a huge section of the overhead roof detached and began crashing down towards the ground. "Run! Run for the base!" Seth screamed, pure panic gripping him.

He helped one of the injured exiles up and began carrying him across the courtyard. Everyone made a mad dash for the military base as the whole world continued to shake apart around them. Seth realized that he actually recognized huge, distant sounds that he was beginning to hear: explosions. Some kind of attack was happening, some kind of bombardment. But what? It would have to be a _massive_ attack.

Had the Republic arrived? No, they wouldn't be waging this kind of destructive war, not at the expensive of who knew how many people were up there above them. If it was already this bad down here, he couldn't even imagine the pure destruction going on in the Upper City. He ignored that, making his way as fast as he could through the ruined hulks of vehicles and machinery. Seconds ground by as they all ran wildly and he led the charge, first across the open space beside the military base, and finally into the hangar itself.

There was the ship, waiting for them. It was powered up.

 _Please,_ he thought wildly, _please let it fly!_

If something went wrong now, surely they were going to die. Hurrying around the back of the vessel, Seth saw that the cargo ramp was down. It was one of the most welcome sights he'd seen in a long time. He rushed up it and set the injured man down as soon as he could, then ran through the rest of the ship to the cockpit.

Yex was at the controls, situated in the pilot's seat.

"What's happening?!" Seth asked.

" _It appears that the Sith are bombarding the planet from orbit. I do not know why, but they seem to be attempting to extinguish all life on Taris,_ " Yex explained. His usually calm voice was strained now, and Seth couldn't blame him.

"Why!?" he moaned.

" _I doubt for any good reason. Seth,_ " Yex said, his voice suddenly urgent, he held something small and blinking up, " _please take this device. Take it into the control room and plug it into the main console. It is the only console that is active. Please, you must hurry, as fast as you can. And make sure the others are onboard and secured._ "

"Got it," Seth replied, turning and sprinting back through the shuddering vessel.

He almost ran smack into Nova. "What's happening?" she asked.

"Make sure everyone is onboard and safe! I'll be right back!" he replied, hardly stopping.

"Where are you going?!"

He ignored her, hitting the back ramp and leaping off of it. Landing with a grunt, the device clutched in one hand, he ran as fast as he could through the hangar. Had to do this fast. He'd already screwed up so much, hadn't kept those people safe. He felt hatred flowing through his veins, hatred and shame and fury at himself for failing. He muttered to himself between panting breaths as he found the control room and tracked down the console Yex had indicated. He found the right slot, clicked the device into place, hoped that was all he had to do, then turn and ran the whole way back to the vessel. He bounded up the cargo ramp, which began to close almost as soon as his boots touched it. He sprinted back down the ship, almost running into a few more people.

"Get settled! Get strapped in!" he screamed.

All around him, Taris continued coming apart. Huge things crashed outside. He found Nova in the cockpit beside Yex, who was working the controls with an intense diligence.

"Did it work?" he asked, gasping now.

" _Yes, it worked. Please hold on._ "

Seth and Nova cried out as the ship shuddered suddenly and then raised up. Overhead, through the canopy of the cockpit, Seth could see the ceiling opening up. And beyond that, he could see the roof of the Undercity, and a portion of it was opening too, revealing a long tunnel. Somewhere in that tunnel, fires burned.

"Is this going to work?" he asked as he and Nova sat down heavily on the floor.

" _I hope so,_ " Yex replied.

The ship began going up into that tunnel.

"Seth," Nova said, and the urgency of her voice ripped his attention away from the tunnel and back to her. "Some of the outcasts onboard have been infected with the rakghoul disease."

He felt a fresh wave of cold terror wash over him and his mind was running a thousand lightyears a second. "What do we do?" he asked. "Do we, I mean...do we...kill them?"

"I don't know," Nova moaned sickly. "Seri says that there's a chance that theoretically wherever we're going could have an antidote or something to help, and theoretically those infected could survive long enough to make it there. But it's a slim hope at best. I mean, they could turn in the next five minutes, I've seen it happen."

Seth just groaned, massaging his temples, thinking it over. "Is Seri quarantining them at least?" he asked.

"Yes. She's doing that now. Everyone else is safely locked away in another part of the ship. I think, at least. We've had so little time..."

Something exploded, filling the cockpit with red-orange light. Seth and Nova looked back through the canopy and saw metal and fire rushing by the windows. Yex was dead silent, focusing entirely on his piloting. They were shooting up the tunnel, towards what might have been the sky, and then, suddenly, they had burst through the threshold and were flying into the skies of Taris. Seth shot to his feet, trying to get a glimpse, and all he saw was…

Death. Destruction.

Silver gossamer towers crumbling, burning, exploding.

A rain of deadly blaster fire falling from the skies. He imagined that he could hear thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions of people screaming. He felt sick, felt like vomiting. From behind him, someone suddenly screamed in pure fear. It sounded like Seri. Both he and Nova made for the door, but Yex called out.

" _No! I need one of you here to help me during a crucial moment,_ " he said, his voice firm, undeniable.

"I'll go," Seth said, already running out the door.

If Nova responded, he didn't hear it. Someone screamed again. He sprinted down the central corridor and waited, looking around, trying to figure out where the commotion was coming from. All around him, the ship began to shudder again. They were leaving the atmosphere now. Could they somehow survive the bombardment? The thousands of cannons? Well, that was out of his hands. This, however, was something he could deal with. He was in what seemed to be a central kind of lounge area that served as the core of the vessel.

There were a few different ways to go…

Someone yelled and sprinted out of the right ingress, blind with terror. Perfect. Seth ran the way they'd come from, blaster out. Something bad was happening and he fully intended to fix it. Hadn't enough gone wrong? He felt sick as another person ran past him, not bothering to stop or tell him what was going on.

Although he thought he had a good idea of it.

The corridor terminated in a closed door. He knew the area beyond was a small cargo bay. He heard someone screaming. The last person must've shut the door behind them. Was Seri in there? Seth smashed the open button and was nearly knocked down by two more people. Something growled and then roared beyond them.

"Move!" he cried as they scrambled to get past him into the narrow corridor.

And then he saw it. Two of the exiles had already transformed. The interior of the cargo bay was sprayed with blood. He saw a pair of corpses. He saw Seri up against the wall, eyes wide with terror as one of the rakghouls advanced on her. The other was across the room, feeding on one of the bodies, almost oblivious to what was happening around it.

Seth aimed and fired, punching a hole right through the back of the rakghoul's skull. Seri let out a startled scream.

"Get out of here!" Seth roared, hurrying into the bay and grabbing her.

"Seth-" she began, but he pushed her towards the door.

"Go! _Now!_ "

She ran. Seth backed up towards the door, taking a quick look across the room. He was going to put down the last rakghoul, which was beginning to take notice of him now, and then seal this room off, and then go deal with the others that might have been bitten or scratched. Could this day possibly get any worse!?

Standing in the doorway now, Seth took aim. He no longer felt the shudder of atmospheric escape. They must be free of the planet, which meant they were going to boost soon, and then hopefully make the jump to hyperspace.

Seth aimed squarely at the rakghoul.

It was focused on him now. The beast let out a growl and then leaped for him the precise second he was pulling the trigger.

He missed.

Already readjusting his aim, Seth was absolutely not prepared for the suddenly explosion of sound and fury that erupted. He watched in sheer terror as the hull behind the rakghoul suddenly split open. Oxygen began rushing out of it into the dead vacuum of space. He screamed, the sound torn from his throat, and dropped his pistol, instead grabbing onto the door frame with both hands. The rakghoul was sucked out in a second. So were the bodies, and whatever else was in the bay that wasn't bolted down. Seth was struggling furiously, barely able to keep himself upright. He had to just push himself back out into the corridor, had to seal the door because obviously the auto-seal had thankfully failed or he'd be dead right now.

Or dying, anyway.

His muscles burned in agony and it felt like his whole body was going to just give out as he pulled with all his might against the door frame, trying to pull himself back into the hallway. And then he felt hands on him, pulling him, helping him.

Right before he was pulled into the hallway and the door was sealed, Seth had one, perfect, horrific glimpse of the world of Taris.

He had seen death before.

He had seen destruction before.

But he had never seen a planet being murdered. It was like a picture, a freeze frame, one perfectly horrific moment frozen in time for him, framed by the ragged, broken hull. He saw Taris. He saw the Sith fleet. He saw the rain of destruction washing across continents, turning cities into charred rubble, boiling oceans, countless millions of lives being snuffed out without warning, without warrant, without need.

He saw it all.

And then the door sealed and he and whoever was helping him crashed to the deckplates in the corridor.

Seth was gasping for air, unable to move, everything in agony.

The last thing he saw before the darkness consumed him once more was Seri's harried, worried face over his own.

And then he was gone.


	15. Chapter 15: Aftermath

Seth slept.

He dreamed.

In one dream, he saw his mother, briefly. He was young, he'd been sleeping in his bed in the tiny apartment he and his parents lived in. It was a good time. His father had finally, _finally_ gotten a better job and was making some real credits. They'd moved from the tiny, one-bedroom place they'd been living in to a bigger apartment and he actually had his own room. He'd woken because his mother had come into the room. He looked up at her. She was staring down at him, smiling. Was there something she wanted?

"Go back to sleep, honey," she said softly, and reached down, gently running her fingers through his hair.

She pulled the blanket up more firmly around him and then left the room.

It was one of the most comforting things he'd ever felt.

Seth went back to sleep.

In another dream, he was back in that cold, bad place. The place of pain. Strapped down to a table with a man with red eyes leering down at him, a bloody scalpel in hand, and his stomach was on fire. The scalpel dipped again and began carving into his left eye.

He screamed.

It felt like the end of the world.

In another dream he was on a nameless battlefield beneath a poisoned silver sky, fighting faceless enemies with only his blade and his determination. There seemed to be no other soldiers on his side, no friendlies.

He fought this war alone.

Seth dreamed on and on.

Mostly they were nightmares.

* * *

When Seth woke up, it wasn't abrupt like many times before.

It was slow. Gradual. Like the sun rising on the distant horizon, turning the skies slowly gray. He had a few false starts, where he tried to awaken, but felt too weak and slipped back into unconsciousness. Seth had no idea how much time passed between these attempts. It could have been minutes or days.

When he did finally, truly awaken, he heard a soft, steady beeping sound. It took him a few seconds to realize it was a pulse monitor. Where was he? What had happened? His thoughts were...almost nonexistent. His mind was little more than a blank slate right then. There was a vague sense of dread, of horror, of sickening revulsion. It loomed over his brain like a tidal wave on the horizon, and it filled him with a slow but intense terror. It seeped into his mind like blood in water. Seth swallowed, or tried to.

His throat was very dry.

He blinked and found himself staring at a ceiling. This was familiar. This had happened before. More than once. Recently. But it was different. It took him what might have been several minutes to realize that it was the quality of the ceiling he was looking at that was different. He remembered a rusted, pitted, ancient corrugated ceiling before. This one was smooth and clean and pristine. It almost looked new.

Where _was_ he?

Seth tried to move, and after a little bit of effort, managed to sit up. He at least had his strength back. Back? Had it left? The tidal wave of terror was looming closer. He didn't want to think. Instead, he became aware of another noise in the room as he began to survey his surroundings. Breathing. Steady, regular breathing, like someone sleeping. That, too, was familiar. He realized that he was in an infirmary of some kind, a patient room to be precise. He had been sleeping in a hospital bed. And he was dressed in a thin, white hospital gown.

There was another bed, and on it, another form.

He recognized her immediately. Nova.

She was asleep, on her side, facing away from him. Was she okay? Were the others? He began to remember. Taris. The rakghouls. The ship. Their escape. It was too big and he felt his stomach turn over as he began to feel the enormity of the horror he had witnessed. Seth pushed it down, focused on something else, something less big.

He really, really had to take a leak.

Standing up, he winced as a sharp pain cut into his arm. Looking down, he realized that someone had hooked an IV drip into a vein. Sighing, he tore the tape away and pulled the needle out. He stood up and moved across the room. The lights were off and the windows were shaded, but enough light was getting in around the edges of the window to tell him that it was probably sometime in mid-afternoon now, wherever he was.

Where had Yex taken them?

He found the bathroom and took a very lengthy piss without turning on the light, hoping that he wouldn't wake Nova. His mind kept drifting. He was remembering. He didn't want to, but he knew he needed to. Seth finished up and flushed, then glanced over at the shower. He realized all at once that he could smell himself and it wasn't great. Suddenly, he wanted a shower more than he wanted anything in the whole galaxy.

He turned the lights on to their lowest setting, stripped naked, and turned on the shower. He turned the water up hot as he could stand it and then slipped in. It was wonderful. The water cascaded down over his abused body. He looked down at himself and realized…

His body didn't actually look abused. In fact, except for the scars, he actually looked pretty healthy. No scrapes, cuts, bruises, scratches, burns…

How long, exactly, had he been out?

In fact, the only mar he could find on himself was where he'd pulled the needle out. It had bled some but that was already clotting. Seth grabbed a bar of soap and started washing himself off. He didn't feel like thinking any further right now, just wanted to do something simple and monotonous that felt good. As he did this, he suddenly heard a gentle knock on the door.

"Yeah?" he asked hesitantly.

"Seth...it's me. Can I come in?" It was Nova.

"Uh...yeah, sure."

The door opened and she stepped into the bathroom. She was just a faint bluish blur beyond the smoked glass of the shower door.

"You're awake," she said after a few moments. He thought she was leaning against the sink, it was hard to tell.

"Yeah. So are you...um, are you okay?" he replied.

"No," she murmured. "But I am happy that you're awake." She paused. "Would it be weird if I joined you in there?"

"Um...no, it doesn't have to be," he replied.

"Okay. Cause I really need a shower. And some company." She sighed as she began shifting around, getting undressed. "I feel like you're the only one I can really talk to. Yex is just so...I don't know, so monk, so freaking Jedi about the whole thing. And Seri, I mean, she's great, but I think she's having trouble coping and she's been crazy busy. But you, I feel like I _get_ you Seth, and you get me. I feel like we're on the same wavelength..."

She opened the door and stepped into the shower, then closed it behind her. Seth looked at her and she looked at him. In a way, he was kind of depressed that his first time seeing Nova naked wasn't a happier one. She did have as amazing a body as he'd imagined. She was curvy and in excellent shape, like many of the twi'lek women he'd come across. (And slept with, on occasion.) He wondered if she was disappointed by what she saw. If she was, she didn't say so.

"Can I have the water?" she asked.

"Yeah, sure," he replied, stepping back. There was about enough room in there for the two of them. "How long have I been out?" he asked.

"Um...about five days," she replied.

"Five days...where are we?"

"A planet called Dantooine. Have you heard of it?" she asked, tilting her head back, letting the water flow over her.

"Yeah, um...farm planet, mostly. Why'd we end up here?"

"Yex knew some people here, and it's a real quiet, peaceful place. Plus, this place has the one type of person that I think might actually be willing to help us out."

"Who's that?"

"Jedi."

Seth felt an almost automatic wave of fear shoot through him. "Jedi?"

"Yeah, that's where we are, actually. At a Jedi Enclave. Or close to, anyway. As a matter of fact, a Jedi's been coming around and checking up on you every day. She's actually been using the Force to accelerate your healing. Although Seri comes through at least two or three times a day to check up on you, too."

"A Jedi's been...checking up on me?" he asked.

"Yeah...what's wrong?"

"I just..." he shifted uncomfortably. "Jedi make me nervous."

Nova nodded. "Yeah, I know what you mean. Me too. But they've been really helpful ever since we got here. Actually, they've had a team of technicians going over our ship almost every day so far, after Yex talked with his friends. I don't really know why or what for, but I saw it last night, before I came in here to sleep. Thing almost looks brand new now."

"Huh," he muttered. A lot of pieces had suddenly fallen into his lap, and he had no idea how they fit together yet. Why was a Jedi healing him? Checking in on him? It made him deeply uncomfortable. But he had more pressing matters that, although he wasn't sure he was actually ready to face them, he knew he had to.

"How are the others? What actually happened?" he asked.

Nova sighed, frowning. "You want the water back?" she replied. He nodded and they switched places. "Well, it worked, at least. The scrambler did it's job. Then I hit the boost for Yex at the right moment. That shoved us a good enough distance away that by the time the scrambler failed to keep the Sith radar at bay any longer, we were far enough to make the jump. That was when he told me our destination. Said it would be safe on Dantooine, and I guess he was right. You were...I thought you were dead when I first saw you. Seri and I had to, uh...we had to put down three of the exiles. Ugh, listen to me...put them down..."

She stopped speaking abruptly and looked up, blinking rapidly. She was trying to keep from crying. He knew how she felt.

"Anyway, um...we got fifteen of them away from Taris in total. They're here, now, on Dantooine, in another settlement a little ways from here. I mean, first they were treated for immediate wounds, and they hung around for a few days getting checked out and pumped full of nutrients and vitamins and supplements and whatnot. I made sure that the Jedi treated them right and basically the Jedi offered them temporary housing at a newly built settlement. Gave them a place to live and jobs if they wanted them. Officially they're sticking them over there while they all figure out what it is precisely they want to do. What I think will happen is they'll want to just settle into their new life. Most of them anyway. This place must be paradise compared to the Undercity."

"Yeah...what about Taris?" Seth asked morosely.

Nova closed her eyes and leaned against the wall. "It's gone," she whispered. "I mean, I don't know all the grisly details, but I saw it when we were fleeing. I mean...I don't know. I imagine mostly everyone there's..." she trailed off and her face wrenched up. "Ugh, it's so awful!" she cried suddenly, and then she straightened up and stepped forward, wrapping him in a tight hug and squeezing him against her.

Seth responded in kind almost without thinking, hugging her back, holding her. She had begun to cry, and he felt tears stinging his own eyes. He wasn't sure how long they stayed like that, locked together and crying in the shower, only that when they were finished, he felt...better, at least. Less upset. And it was good, the simple comfort afforded by physical contact and primal release of a good, hard cry. Nova let go of him and took a step back.

"Thank you," she whispered.

"You're welcome, and thank you, too. I...needed that," he replied.

"So did I." They stared at each other for a moment longer, and he felt something flicker between them. A mutual attraction, a spark of lust, but then it died as his stomach rumbled. They both laughed. "I guess I should eat, huh?" he asked.

"Yeah. I should, too. And you should really let Seri know that you're up. She's been so damned worried about you."

"She does tend to dote, I think."

He turned off the water and finishing rinsing up and then stepped out. Passing Nova a towel, he grabbed one of his own and the pair dried off together. Now that he'd cried and actually faced the worst of his memories and had a shower, he was feeling a lot less groggy. His head was clearing, and he was realizing how awkward it was that he'd just showered with another woman. He was used to doing that with women he'd slept with, but not just as a thing that happened. Not that he hadn't appreciated the experience.

And _damn_ he was really noticing how fantastically attractive Nova was…

Seth finished drying, hung the towel up, and stepped back out into the main room. As he was doing this, preparing to hunt for some clothes to wear, because he was not going to get back into that damned hospital gown, the door opened and Seri stepped in.

"You're up!" she cried happily.

"Please close the door," Seth replied, reflexively covering his crotch up.

"Oh, sorry!...is Nova around?"

"I'm in here," Nova replied.

"Oh, okay. Well, I'm glad you're both up. And I'm glad I caught you before you got dressed, I need to check you over."

"Of course you do," Seth replied.

She sighed, walking over to him and making him raise his arms up, then beginning the process of inspecting him. "It's almost like you don't appreciate my efforts to keep you healthy."

"I do, they're just kind of annoying," he replied.

"Such is life...hmm, well, you seem to have healed very well. Go and sit back on the patient bed and I can run a scan on you."

He sat down, feeling awkward all over again. "Do you know anything about that Jedi who's been coming in and healing me?" he asked.

"Yes, actually. Well, I know that she needs to speak with you. In fact, I ran into her on the way in here. She seemed to think that you would be waking up soon, although I'm not sure how she could tell. But she said if you were awake, to please send you out through the front entrance to speak with her. It is very important."

He sighed again. "Of course it is. Did she say _why_ it's important?"

"No. Although she did mention that it will concern all of us. And by us she meant myself, Nova, and Yex."

"Why me?" Nova asked, emerging from the bathroom, dressed again.

"I don't know. She seemed to want to speak with Seth first. So I imagine he'll let us know afterward," Seri replied.

"I will," he said.

"Hmm...okay, you're actually healthy. Back up to snuff, it seems." She turned off the scanner and then moved over to a cabinet. Opening it up, she pulled out a simple black jumpsuit, a pair of black boxers, and some black socks. Beside the stack of clothes were a pair of black boots. "I set this aside because I knew you'd want to wear something you considered useful as soon as you woke up. It's your size, should fit fine."

"Thanks," he replied as he hopped up and quickly began dressing. "Although man, people are gonna think I'm a dark Jedi or something," he muttered, looking the clothes over.

"Black looks good on you," Nova said.

"Not sure how to take that."

"Take it as a compliment, and she's right," Seri replied.

He figured to do just that and finished dressing by zipping up the jumpsuit and then lacing the boots up tight. He patted his hip automatically and sighed. "No gun," he muttered.

"I'm sure you'll be able to find one somewhere, although there doesn't really seem to be much need for one here," Seri said.

"I'm almost positive that's going to change," Seth replied. He stretched for a moment, popping several of his joints, then headed for the door.

"Show me this Jedi."


	16. Chapter 16: A Strange Request

Seth still didn't know how he felt as he and Nova followed Seri down the quiet, brightly lit corridors of the medical facility. In a way, he felt like something inside of him had been broken, and he was not sure of the enormity of the break or the consequences. He was angry, he was afraid, he was sad, he was anxious. He simply wanted to feel peace, but...how long had it been since he'd really, truly felt any kind of peace? Months? Years? Seth no longer knew. All he knew was that he had been staggering on through life for a long time now.

He supposed he would keep doing the same now.

Seri brought them to the entrance of the facility, and the doors slid open to admit them to the outside world. Seth stepped out and hesitated as he looked around. Dantooine was...it was amazing. It was beautiful. He felt something similar to that strange sense of wonder he'd experienced when first seeing the silver towers of Taris. This was different though, softer, more serene. Less awe, and more ambient wonder.

The front exterior of the medical facility was a half-octagon of concrete extending from the front of the building. Off to the left were more structures and concrete walkways with trees providing shade and flowerbeds here and there. He could even see a creek running through one part of it, leading off into a lake a little further down a gentle slope ahead of them. Off to the right were fields. Miles and miles of rolling fields. He saw a few more lakes there, glittering in the afternoon sunlight beneath blue skies dotted occasionally with puffy white clouds.

A woman in pale beige robes was standing on the platform, looking a little nervous. She was very strikingly beautiful, an olive-skinned woman with a good build, black hair pulled into a loose ponytail, and gray eyes.

"Sergeant Kast," she said as her eyes fell on him.

Seth felt a wave of fear and discomfort settle over him as she strode rapidly towards him. He saw the lightsaber on her hip.

"That's me," he replied.

"My name is Maya Corix. I'm a Jedi with the Enclave here. If you have time, I would very much appreciate it if you would take the time to speak with one of the Masters here. We have a request for you," she said.

"A request? What kind of request?" he replied uncertainly.

"Master Vrook would like to explain himself," she said.

"I suppose I can, but...I really need to report in with my superiors. Although I suppose my immediate superiors are all dead. But I am with the Republic Army..."

"That can certainly be arranged," Maya replied, "but first I would greatly appreciate it if you would speak with Master Vrook. We need your help." She glanced hesitantly at Nova and Seri. "We may need all of your help."

"Very well. I must tend to my duties in the clinic. Please Seth, come find me once you know the true nature of this...help," Seri said.

"I will," he replied. Nova was right. Something was wrong with Seri. Something was wrong with all of them, but she seemed to be holding a lot in. He was going to have to try and talk with her, see how she was holding up.

"I'm going for a walk in the gardens," Nova said.

"I'll see you when I can," Seth replied.

She nodded and headed off. Seth turned towards Maya. "All right, Miss Corix, uh...take me to Master Vrook," he said.

"Thank you. And, you can call me Maya, if you want," she replied, turning and leading him off.

"All right, Maya," he said, following.

They made their way quickly among the walkways, in between the gardens, the trees, the flowers, all of this presided over by the beautiful sky. He tried to take solace from the scenery, the clean air, the warm sunshine, the cool breeze. But inside he felt a turmoil raging, a silent war being waged within him. It just made him angrier, but he kept a lid on it. He studied Maya as they walked on. She was certainly attractive, but weren't most female Jedi? They tended to be in top physical condition. But she freaked him out.

She was a Jedi. There was a hidden power there that was beyond swords, beyond blasters, beyond even grenades and bombs. They weren't invincible, but their potential for destruction was...well, just look at what was happening right now. Revan was supposed to have been the savior of the Republic. She had led the armies and fleets to a powerful victory over the Mandalorians. And then she and Malak and their Jedi followers had betrayed them all. Become Sith. This very well could be the actual end of the Republic.

Because of Jedi.

You couldn't have Fallen Jedi without Jedi.

But there were other reasons Jedi freaked him out. Well, one other reason. But he wouldn't go there, he refused to seek that memory out. It was in the past, far behind him, and he absolutely refused to let it come back again.

But his mind betrayed him in sleep, and he found himself in that place again…

Seth focused. They came to another building and entered through a side door. As they made their way down a broad, low corridor, Seth heard metal meeting metal. Someone was sword-fighting. Training, more than likely. He supposed they wouldn't want to give recruits lightsabers until they had proved themselves capable of using them. Or maybe they were teaching some of the locals how to defend themselves.

Did Jedi do that? Or did they prefer to do all the defending themselves?

They came into an open area dominated by a tree and a small garden. In fact, there was no roof overhead, it was open to the sky. Seth wondered if rain negatively affected the area, since this was in the middle of a building, and then realized that he badly missed the rain. But his eyes were drawn to a pair of fighting figures, two women, testing each other, training indeed. He actually recognized one of them and hesitated.

Who was she? Had he actually seen her before? She was a slim brunette maybe a few years younger than he was, kind of with a prudish face. Where had he seen her before? Maya noted that he'd stopped and moved back, to rejoin him.

"Something wrong?" she asked.

"I just...I recognize that woman, the brunette over there, training. I just can't place her..."

"That's Bastila Shan," she replied.

Seth's eyes widened. "She was on the _Spire!_ " he whispered. Now he knew! Yes, she had been one of the Jedi he'd briefly seen aboard the _Endar Spire_. And now that he thought about it...had he seen that other woman, as well? She was certainly striking enough, maybe five and a half feet tall, also with a slight but very athletic build, midnight black hair, snow pale skin, and brilliantly blue eyes. Something about her…

She terrified him, but he had no idea why.

"That's Neeri Sonus," Maya replied. "I believe she was also on the _Spire_. I believe she is being trained to become a Jedi."

"What?" Seth asked, incredulous. "I thought...isn't it some kind of hard rule that you have to be a kid to be trained?"

"In almost all cases, yes. But she is a rare exception. She and Bastila, and a few others, managed to escape Taris. I understand their story is quite extraordinary."

"Others?" Seth asked. Had someone else made it off that ship? Off of Taris? Someone that he could actually recognize? Not that he'd gotten to know that many people aboard the _Spire_ , but somehow it felt important to know, like maybe it somehow helped justify, even in the slightest, all that had transpired, to know that _others had made it_.

"Yes, although I'm not sure..."

"Did anyone else from the _Endar Spire_ make it?" he asked, turning towards Maya.

"I think so. One other person...what did I overhear Vrook saying? I think...Carth?"

"Carth Onasi is alive!?" Seth cried, then realized he'd nearly shouted that and glanced around. Both of them women had ceased training and were now looking at him. That strong sense of blind terror came back very strongly as he locked eyes with the woman named Neeri Sonus. He swallowed and looked back at Maya.

"Yes, that was his name. Um...I could try to track him down for you after you speak with Master Vrook and call your superiors. He is on the grounds still, I believe."

"I would appreciate that. Um...please, let's go see Vrook," Seth replied, suddenly eager to get out of here. Both of the women were talking now, and Neeri was still staring at him. What _was_ it about her? Why did she freak him out so much?

Maya led him out of the open-air chamber, down another few hushed corridors, and finally he found himself in what seemed to be a small office. One whole side was a large window. There was just a desk and two chairs.

"Please, wait right here, I'll get Master Vrook," Maya said. Seth nodded and walked to the windows as she left. The view was an excellent one, looking out onto a little peaceful garden where a small flock of tiny birds hopped and pecked at the grass and butterflies fluttered among the flowers, which were bright blue in color and quite beautiful. All of this sat in the shadow from a copse of trees surrounding a small pond.

Behind him, the door opened again. Seth turned. Maya had returned with Vrook. Seth found himself looking at an older human man. He was balding, what was left of his hair gray and thin. He wore different colored Jedi robes and had eyes of pale blue. There was a hardness there, obvious in his stern face and grim countenance.

"Sergeant Seth Kast," he said, and he had a bit of a grim voice, a bit gravelly. It was the kind of voice that was used to lecturing, and being listened to. "My name is Vrook Lamar, I am a Jedi Master here at the Enclave," he said as he approached Seth, who had to fight not to take a step back. If Maya made him nervous, then Vrook successfully intimidated him. His presence seemed to fill the room. Seth had never seen a Jedi Master before.

"Please to meet you," he managed.

"Mmm-hmm," Vrook said, studying him closely. He turned suddenly and moved over to his desk, where he sat behind it. Maya assumed a position beside him, standing, hands clasped behind her back. "Please, sit."

Seth sat opposite Vrook.

"Sergeant Kast, I have managed to gather some details from your friends and the others you brought here about the unlikely series of events that led you from the _Endar Spire_ , through the Taris Undercity, and to us here on Dantooine. The reason I ask you here today is that the Jedi Order finds itself in need of some assistance, as we are preparing to undertake a dangerous assignment. But before I get into details on that, I wish to hear your tale."

"My tale?" Seth replied. Seriously, what could they possibly want with him? They were _Jedi_ for Force's sake.

"Yes. Please, relay the events of Taris to Maya and myself. I wish to hear every detail," Vrook replied.

Seth stared at this man, at Maya behind him, considering the situation. There was nothing saying he had to do this. He had no loyalty to the Jedi, and was under no compulsion to grant Vrook his request. Even if both of them were certainly capable of making him talk, or at least getting farther than that bastard back on Taris would, he felt confident they wouldn't, because why would they both? Plus, they were Jedi, and supposed to be on the side of the good guys. And yet...something inside of him compelled Seth to tell them.

Maybe he wanted to get it all straight in his head, as he hadn't had a real chance to go over the sequence of unlikely events yet.

Or maybe he just needed to justify it to someone, all the death and destruction.

And so he told them. He spent nearly an hour relaying everything.

At times, Seth considered editing his story. He didn't mind leaving out parts like his showers with Seri, how he'd cried or pissed himself during the torture/interrogation, but he was reluctant to admit all the murder he'd committed, even if it had seemed justifiable at the time, and still did seem so, or how he had completely lost his mind in that apartment building and slaughtered an entire gang. But again, something made him tell the truth.

Maybe he was just feeling confessional.

In the end, he told Vrook and Maya damn near everything.

There was silence for nearly an entire minute when he stopped speaking, ending with his desperate rescue onboard the ship and his subsequent passing out. Finally, Vrook nodded, slowly. "Quite the tale," he said.

"You believe me?" he asked.

"Yes. I do. You are quite the capable soldier, Sergeant Kast. Although you clearly have difficulties controlling your anger. You must take heed...anger leads to the Dark Side."

"Maybe for the Jedi," Seth replied before he could think better of it.

Vrook's already grumpy features hardened. "No, Sergeant. If you hadn't noticed, your former comrades in arms are slaughtering millions out there. Dark Jedi alone have not been waging this war on the galaxy."

There was no anger in his words, just a flat statement of facts.

"I suppose you have a point," Seth made himself say, because he didn't feel like arguing with a Jedi Master. And, well, he _did_ have a point.

"Despite my misgivings about your issues, I believe you can help us. Maya? Do you still want his assistance?" Vrook asked.

"Yes, I believe he and his allies will be perfect for this assignment," Maya replied.

"Very well then. I will brief you on the situation, then Maya will take over. Are you familiar with a Great Hunt, Sergeant?" Vrook asked.

"No," Seth replied.

Vrook frowned and nodded. "I figured. Most people aren't. In simple terms, every generation or so the forces of the Dark Side will rise in one form or another. When this happens, the power of the Dark Side grows and spreads across the galaxy. A result of this, one of many, is that a certain kind of beast comes out of hiding in numerous places across the galaxy. These beasts are called terentateks. They feed on the blood of Force sensitives and generally cause mayhem and murder for any civilized areas around them. There's more to it, but these are the basics you need to know. Obviously with the return and rise of the Sith, terentateks are coming out again. We need to take this opportunity to eliminate any and all we can find.

"We sent three of our own out on a mission to track down these beasts, but they have not reported back in some time. Although it is likely they are too far from reliable comms to give a status update. Since then, we have discovered other likely hiding places across the galaxy. Unfortunately, our resources are already stretched quite thin. Maya is the only Jedi we can spare, and obviously, one Jedi is not enough. I know it is unusual to request help in this fashion, but these are unusual times. I have felt a ripple in the Force, a small one, that leads me to believe that you and your allies could prove very beneficial to this assignment."

Seth considered it for a long moment. Finally, he shook his head. "Before I can answer any of this, I need to report to my superiors," he said.

"Ah yes. I have already considered that. Come with me, I will take you to a communications node where you can connect with someone further up the chain of command," Vrook replied.

"Thank you," Seth said.

They stood and the trio left the office. They moved down a corridor and Vrook pointed him through a door, into a small comms room.

"Whatever the outcome, I leave this in your hands now, Maya. I'm afraid I have other pressing matters to attend to."

"Yes, thank you Master Vrook," Maya replied.

"May the Force be with you," he said to Seth.

"Uh...and you, Master Vrook," Seth replied awkwardly.

He stepped into the comms booth and closed the door behind him. He found a line already in the memory banks, a direct link to a Republic outpost on the planet, in fact. He opened up the line and navigated the menus, finally connecting to a comm operator, and finally a man who identified himself as Master Sergeant Briggs.

Seth snapped off a quick salute. "Master Sergeant Briggs. Sergeant Kast, identification number 49-298-0014 reporting in."

" _Hello, Kast. I've been made aware of your situation. You were aboard the_ Spire _when it was destroyed over Taris, correct?"_

"Yes, Master Sergeant."

" _Damn...I'm sorry, son."_ He sighed and ran a hand over his shaved head. He looked...tired. He was probably in his forties or fifties, stubble coming in gray, wrinkles around his eyes and the corners of his mouth.

"So am I, Master Sergeant. Ah...they want me for some kind of joint operation, the Jedi here do. I'm not sure if I was to be reassigned."

" _Well, to be honest...right now, you'd probably be better off with the Jedi."_ He looked even more tired now, world weary. He almost looked vulnerable.

"How's the war going, Master Sergeant?" Seth asked reluctantly.

Briggs heaved a long sigh. _"Poorly, Sergeant. Very poorly. If we don't pull some kind of miracle out of our ass soon, we're all going to be under the collective boots of the Sith."_ He shook his head. _"If you want to, you're free to take the mission. If not, you can catch a flight over here to my base and I'll get you squared away."_

Seth considered it for a bit. What did he want? If this had been even two weeks ago, Seth would have leaped at the opportunity to return to duty at the outpost. But...something had changed since he had come to Taris. Something inside of him was different, and he didn't know if it was a good or a bad thing. The only thing he knew for certain was that he had to take this opportunity, had to face this Great Hunt, to figure himself out.

And if he could do it with both the Republic's and Jedi's blessings, then great.

"I'm going to go on the Jedi's mission, Staff Sergeant."

" _Understood. I'll make sure to update your records, make a notation. And son...whatever you're doing, good luck out there."_

"Thank you, Staff Sergeant. You as well."

The man nodded and killed the feed. Seth sighed heavily and sat there for another few minutes in the quiet, cool confines of the comms booth.

This was definitely going to be different.

He stood up and left the room, finding Maya waiting for him. "I'm going," he said. "But I'll need to talk to my friends. You want all of them to come with us? Seri? Yex? Nova?"

"Yes. From what I've gathered they are all quite skilled at survival. I can fill you in on the specifics after you determine if they wish to go or not," she replied.

He nodded. "Okay. I'm going to track them down. While I do...would you mind finding Carth Onasi and having him meet me here? I really would appreciate it."

"Yes, I can do that. I'll have him go to the central chamber, with the tree, if I do manage to find him. And...thank you, Seth, for helping me. Us."

"You're welcome," he replied.

Seth turned and headed back the way he'd come.

This was going to be interesting.


	17. Chapter 17: A New Purpose

He found Nova first, walking among the gardens like she said she would be. Although when he tracked her down, she was sitting on a bench beside the lake, looking out over it. He walked up and sat down beside her.

Without looking, she reached over and laid her hand on top of his. "It's a shame," she said quietly, staring out over the rolling hills and the clear blue lake.

"What?" he replied.

"This place is so peaceful, but I still feel so...awful," she murmured.

"I know exactly how you feel," he agreed.

"What did Maya tell you?"

"That our assistance has been requested for a dangerous mission."

"Wow, really? How dangerous?"

"Pretty dangerous, I think."

"We get hazard pay?"

Seth considered it. "I honestly have no idea."

"Well, that'll factor into my decision."

"Yeah. I need to find Yex and Seri before we can seriously discuss it, since this involves all four of us. Then, once we figure that out, we can talk to Maya about it."

Nova sighed and then stood up, taking her hand away. "Yeah, I guess we should. Yex is with the ship. He's been helping those technicians fix it up from time to time, when he isn't running down repairs for the locals. Come on, I know the way there."

Seth joined her and they began making their way back up towards the Jedi Enclave and the surrounding buildings. As they headed for the port and the ship that had saved their lives, Seth found himself latching onto pleasantly distracting thoughts. Nova was being...very friendly with him. He could still feel the phantom warmth of her hand on the back of his, and she was walking intentionally close to him, and occasionally glancing at him.

Was she interested?

He remembered thinking that propositioning her would be inappropriate on Taris. But things were pretty different now. Maybe it wasn't a great idea though. They were both clearly pretty shaken up over the destruction of Taris, the loss of life…

But then again, wasn't sex a great outlet, a great source of relief and comfort?

Seth knew that there were certainly times where he just wanted to feel good. Maybe Nova shared this particular desire?

Well, maybe he'd at least broach the topic at some point in the near future.

When they found the ship that Yex was working on, Seth didn't recognize it. He almost walked past it, as it was one in a row of three vessels taking up landing pads lined up off to one side of the Jedi Enclave. It didn't look the same at all. Of course the basic structure was the same, but the exterior was much different. It looked almost new. Clearly it had some wear and tear, but a great deal had been done to smooth all the imperfections out.

"Wow," he said.

"Yeah, and they work fast. It didn't even look that good yesterday," Nova murmured. "This must be what they're doing it for, for this mission. Although I do wonder who the ship belongs to now, legally? I mean, I guess...the Republic? That was a Republic military outpost. Or is there some kind of statute of limitations on that? Was it fair salvage for us?"

"Does it matter right now?" Seth replied, honestly curious.

"No, I guess no. There he is. Hey, Yex!" Nova called.

Their ithorian friend was coming down the cargo ramp, wiping his hands on a cloth already filthy with grease and oil. Yex looked...very much at peace, and very happy. Well, he must be in his element right now.

" _Nova! Seth! You are awake! Oh, it is so good to see you, my friend,_ " Yex said merrily as he quickly closed the distance between them. He began to wrap Seth in a hug, then hesitated. " _Eh...I am most filthy right now..._ "

"Oh, I don't mind, Yex," Seth replied, and hugged the ithorian mechanic. Yex happily hugged him back.

" _So how are you feeling?_ "

"I'm...better. Physically at least. Um, would you mind coming with us? I've got a bit of an announcement and it's for all of us, including Seri."

" _Yes, I can do that. I've just finished making my round of repairs for the day. Does this announcement have anything to do with why we are working so hard to repair this vessel? No one has actually informed me of that fact yet._ "

"It does," Seth replied.

" _Excellent! Let us go._ "

They retraced their steps and tracked down the medical center again. Once they got there, they asked for Seri at the front desk and waited. A few moments later, she appeared. She looked tired and unhappy.

"Hi everyone, um...what's happening? Did you finished talking with that Jedi?" she asked.

"Yeah, I did. Come outside with us, we need to talk," Seth replied.

Seri looked back into the clinic, then nodded. "Yeah, okay. I guess I could use a break," she murmured.

They headed outside, back into the sunshine, and stood together off to the right of the concrete platform out in front of the clinic. Seth spent a few minutes detailing what he knew about the situation, what was being asked of them, (not that he knew that much himself yet), basically all the information he had.

"I'm in," he said. "I already talked with my own people, and I've got the official green light from the Republic."

" _I, too, am in. This feels significant, and important. I want to do this,_ " Yex replied immediately.

"Well...I guess I'm in. I imagine if we're going to be doing this we'll at least get room and board. Who knows, maybe we'll get a decent paycheck out of it," Nova replied. "And...I just like you all. If we can stick together, then I'd enjoy that. Staying around you three just feels...it feels correct right now," she added.

They all looked at Seri.

She looked back at them. "Well...I don't really have anything else to do," she murmured, then laughed. "That sounds like a sad reason. I like the three of you as well. You are my friends. And you will need my help, I think. So yes, I would like to partake of this."

"Good!" Seth said. "Then let's go track down Maya and get some details."

They all agreed and followed him again back into the Jedi Enclave. He found Maya waiting for them. Bastila and Neeri were no longer training, but he instantly recognized Carth Onasi. The man was sitting on a bench, staring at the ground, lost deep in thought. He looked...a lot like that Master Sergeant. Tired. Exhausted. Unhappy.

"All right, Maya. We talked it over. All of us are in," Seth said.

"Good! That's so great to hear," Maya replied, sounding relieved and happy. "Okay, details. First, before we leave Dantooine, we have tasks to complete here. There is a rumor that there is a terentatek here on the planet. It is rumored to have been seen near the new settlement where those who you brought with you were relocated to. And that settlement is in need of assistance in other ways as well. I think all of you would appreciate the opportunity to provide some help, given the nature of your relationship with the others?" she asked.

"Yeah, definitely," Seth said.

"I'd be willing to help out," Nova replied, and Yex and Seri agreed immediately.

"Excellent. Well, in that case, I have a few things I need to do here. Shall we all gather at the ship you came in on in two hours' time?" she suggested.

All four of them agreed. Maya again thanked them and then left.

"Well, I should go back to the clinic. I can get a few more hours in," Seri said, and she turned and left before anyone could reply.

" _I too wish to get some work done. Now that I know we are leaving, I have a few projects I wish to wrap up. I will see you at the ship, my friends._ "

Seth and Nova watched him go. Seth glanced over at Carth.

"What are you going to do?" Nova asked.

"See that man over there?" Seth replied, nodding towards Carth.

"Yeah..."

"He's another survivor from the ship I escaped from. And a bit of a war hero. I want to talk with him for a little while," Seth replied.

"Oh. That seems important. I guess I'm going to go catch that meal. I saw a nice little cafe yesterday and wanted to try it out," Nova replied.

Seth's stomach grumbled. He sighed. He _still_ hadn't eaten yet. "I'll join you when I'm done talking with him," he replied.

She smiled and suddenly placed a hand on his bicep, gave it a small squeeze. "I'm looking forward to your company," she said, then turned and left.

He watched her go. Nova was really...quite the woman.

Seth slowly lost his smile as he returned his attention to Carth. Well...time to do this. Seth approached him. "Commander Onasi," he said.

Carth looked up, seemingly startled out of whatever he was thinking about. "Hello!" he said, raising to his feet. "Maya told me you wanted to see me. She said you were from the _Endar Spire_...and Taris." He offered his hand.

Seth took it and shook it. The guy had a firm grip, not that he expected anything less. "My name is Sergeant Seth Kast," he replied. "It's an honor to meet you, Commander Onasi."

Carth laughed easily. "I think, under the circumstances, Carth will do."

"I guess so," Seth replied. "So...how are you handling it?"

He hadn't quite meant to dive right in like that, but he was bad at small talk, and he had the idea that Carth was too.

The man sighed heavily, losing his smile. "Best I can, I guess. I'm not sleeping well. Being here is...peaceful, at least, but I'm itching to get out and _do_ something."

"Why can't you?" Seth asked.

Carth sighed and threw up his hands, irritation written his features as he indicated the Jedi Enclave around them. "I don't know! One of the others I came here with, her name is Neeri...they're all up in arms about how amazing she is with the Force. They're training her to be a Jedi. She's been shut up in here with Bastila and the other Jedi for a week now. And I...I don't know. I feel like, whatever's happening, it's important, and I need to be a part of it. To help."

"I...actually know exactly what you mean," Seth murmured.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah, um, I just got pulled for a mission by a Jedi. They want me and some of the others who escaped from Taris with me to help them hunt down some Dark Side monsters."

"Wow, that's...very odd. Although if you made it off Taris in one piece, I guess you'd be more than skilled enough to get the job done."

"I almost didn't," Seth muttered.

"I'm very curious, how did _you_ escape Taris? I was convinced that we had the only one-in-a-million lucky break to do so..."

They sat down on the bench together and Seth spent the next however long outlining the basics of his adventure on the cityscape of a planet. Carth seemed fascinated, which was particularly strange for Seth. Carth Onasi was a bit of a living legend. He'd seen dozens of battles against the Mandalorians, and then dozens more against the Sith. He'd mounted rescues, led several battles to unlikely victories, gotten out of some pretty insane situations. At least, that's often what Seth heard, though he was more inclined to believe that now than he was before (which was already a lot, people needed heroes), when he finished his story and then Carth relayed the series of events that had led to his own escape from the doomed planet of Taris.

Not long after he had finished up, a young twi'lek suddenly appeared through one of the doors. "Carth, need you."

Carth looked at her and sighed. "What is it, Mission?"

"Canderous is going to get into another fight," Mission replied.

Carth groaned and got to his feet. He looked around. "Where is Neeri, dammit? She's the only one that can talk sense into that big, dumb bastard...I'm sorry, Seth, I have to go deal with this." Seth stood up as well and Carth again offered him his hand. He shook it. "Whatever you're doing out there, Seth...good luck."

"You too, Carth," Seth replied.

He watched the man and the twi'lek leave the open-air chamber. He then hunted around for a chronometer and when he finally found one, saw that nearly an hour and a half had passed since he'd started talking with Carth.

Maybe he should go see the others, or find Nova, or someone.

After talking with Carth, he suddenly found himself realizing just how valuable it was to have people you actually cared about around you.

It was too easy to lose people nowadays.

* * *

Seth ended up wandering around for another half an hour or so before giving up and heading back to the ship, unable to find Nova, but also for some reason unwilling to leave the peaceful gardens surrounding the Jedi Enclave. Talking with Carth and walking the gardens have given him some small measure of peace. He felt...calmer. Though not necessarily better. Things were adding up: being around his friends, knowing they had made it safely to Dantooine, having a new purpose. But all of it seemed to pale beneath the looming shadow of the horror he had witnessed, the utter destruction of an entire planet.

It seemed rooted to his heart with ugly hooks, and wouldn't let go.

It almost felt like his soul was stained.

Eventually, responsibility called and he did leave the gardens, making for the ship when his two hour timeline was nearly up. When he made it there, the shadows of the day just beginning to lengthen as the sun made its slow burn towards the far horizon, he found someone waiting at the foot the cargo ramp.

Maya.

"Seth," she said, "I was hoping to speak to you alone."

Seth swallowed but made himself keep walking and stopped at arm's length from her. "What is it?" he replied.

"I...have sensed a great deal of turmoil in you," she replied, as if uncertain how to proceed with a delicate matter.

"Well, I mean, given what just transpired, I don't think that's particularly surprising. And I imagine there's similar turmoil in all of us," Seth replied.

"Yes, I agree, it's just that...beneath that turmoil, I sense a great, burning anger. It is...disturbing," she said.

"Well...I have a lot of good reasons to be angry," he replied, then regretted it. It sounded petulant and childish.

"That maybe so, but our mission is very important. I am asking that you not make any rash actions that will put lives at risk."

Seth considered it, uncertain of how to respond. He didn't particularly like this conversation, but she had a point. "I will not put _others_ lives at risk," he replied.

"That was...oddly specific. Do you mean to say that you will put your own life at risk?"

"Well, it's in the job description, isn't it?"

She sighed. "I suppose so. I ask then that you do not put your life in unnecessary risk."

"Well...what if we split hairs on what's considered necessary?" Seth replied.

She pursed her lips. "I suppose we will just have to see how this all shakes out. Officially, I am in charge of this mission, but I don't wish to simply step in and lord over all of you."

"Really?"

"Does this surprise you?"

"Well...a lot of Jedi I've encountered seem to, uh, naturally slide into leadership positions. And rarely respond well to the questioning of their orders."

"Is that not normal for leadership roles in military positions?"

"I suppose so," he replied, then frowned and massaged the bridge of his nose for a minute. "I'm being difficult. I'm sorry. I have...difficulties with Jedi."

"Is there a specific reason for that?" Maya asked.

"Yes, but I really don't want to talk about it. Look, I won't question your orders so long as they aren't completely insane and I'll do my best not to cause problems. We're on the same side and we want the same things. I'm just...not used to a situation like this."

"I understand. I'm not either, actually. I'm more than willing to listen to advice. I've seen your file. You clearly have a great deal of experience." She let out a small sigh of what seemed like relief. "Thank you for speaking with me. I'm glad we're both on the same page. Um...the others are already inside. The flight is unfortunately going to take several hours. We will arrive sometime early tomorrow. The ship still isn't fully repaired and Yex seemed reluctant to push it very fast. So we'll be sleeping on the ship for tonight."

"Sounds good to me. Now, if you'll excuse me, I really must get something to eat. I haven't eaten since I woke up."

"Oh my, and you were asleep for several days. Yes, indeed, let's go inside."

They headed into the ship.

Seth immediately went to the central section where he'd seen a small kitchenette area. He found Nova sitting on one of the couches placed in the center of the area staring at a datapad. She glanced up as he came in and began scavenging for food.

"You still haven't eaten?" she asked, smirking at him.

"No, I haven't," he replied. "I got kind of tied up talking with Carth. So now I'm eating." He grabbed whatever he could, very thrilled to discover that the technicians who had been working to fix the ship had at least managed to stock a few basics. He found a meat and cheese sandwich in a small sealed bag, a few pieces of fruit, a bottle of water, and a bag of potato chips, and sat down next to Nova on the couch, then began to eat.

Maya lingered for a bit, then went ahead to the cockpit.

"So, what do you think, can we trust her?" Nova asked after she'd gone.

"Yeah, I think so," he replied, though a little reluctantly. He didn't think he'd ever fully trust another Jedi again in his life. "At the very least, I think we'll be doing good work, and Jedi are typically committed to that."

"Yeah, until they suddenly aren't," Nova muttered bitterly.

He grunted in agreement.

When he was finished eating, Seth sat back, not exactly contented, but feeling better at least. Then Nova shifted suddenly and put her legs in his lap.

Now he was content.

Seth glanced over at Nova. She looked back at him with a smile that was very confident. "I think I need another shower," she said. "What about you?"

"Uh..." he couldn't help the smile that came onto his face. "Yeah...yeah, I could definitely go for another shower."

She stood up suddenly. "Good. Come on, I've already staked out one of the rooms."

He followed her deeper into the ship.


	18. Chapter 18: A Quantum of Solace

He and Nova made love twice.

Once in the shower, and once again in the bed she'd laid claim to. And she was every bit as amazing a lover as he'd hoped she would be. It was a great way to go to sleep: exhausted, awash in the bliss that came from very good sex, curled up against a beautiful, naked woman. Despite that, his sleep was once more haunted by nightmares.

If anything, they were worse.

He was on Taris. He walked through holocaust streets of ash and bone. Everywhere he looked, silver spires were aflame, crumbling into dust. There was smoke everywhere. And the bodies. There were so many bodies. Some of them had been pulverized into nothing but charred remains. Others were somehow almost flash-frozen where they had fallen, nothing but blackened bone and meat. He saw people cowering, trying to shield themselves from the unstoppable death that had rained down from above. He stumbled and staggered through the streets.

Then he came across the ashen remains of a woman trying to shield her child, both of them in the middle of the street, a last desperate act.

They were nothing but ash and char now.

Seth felt...despair.

It seemed to wash over him, drowning out all other feelings. Nothing but bleak, hopeless despair. And then he looked up and gasped in mindless terror at what he saw. The sky was black and starless, dominated by two staring eyes of the deepest red. Eyes the color of blood. Eyes the color of exposed, raw muscle. Eyes of death.

And he screamed.

* * *

"Seth! Seth!"

He gasped awake, his whole body covered in a cold sweat, muscles so rigid and tense that it hurt. He couldn't move, which was a damned good thing because if he could have been able to he might have thrown Nova from the bed. She was sitting up, hand on his bicep.

"Seth...are you okay?" she whispered. She looked afraid.

"I...had a nightmare," he managed, fighting for control, to get his heart rate and breathing back down to something approaching normal. He shifted, coughed, blinked a few times. "Um...I'm sorry I woke you."

"It's okay," she replied, then reached up and laid her hand gently against his cheek. "It's okay, Seth. I was worried about you. And I was having nightmares too. You were calling out in your sleep. I just...I was worried."

"I'm fine," he managed, although he knew it was a lie.

He was sick to his stomach. He was trembling. He was angry and terrified and despairing. He checked the chronometer mounted on the wall beside the bed. "Is that, uh...is that local time?" he asked, nodding to it.

"Yeah," Nova replied.

It was seven in the morning. They'd gone to sleep at around nine o'clock last night. A long sleep, but he needed it.

"Uh...we've probably landed by now. We should get up, get a shower," he murmured, sitting up and pulling the blanket back. He planted his feet on the deckplates and their chill help ground him back to reality a bit. Sitting there, he held his head in his hands, hunching over, just trying to calm down. He felt Nova's hands on his bare back. She ran them up his skin and rested them on his shoulders. He reached back and laid one hand atop hers.

"Thank you," he murmured.

"For what?" she replied.

"For...being nice to me, I guess. And understanding, about the nightmares."

She laughed softly, then kissed the back of his head and shifted again, wrapping her arms around him and hugging him. He could feel her bare breasts against his back. "You're welcome," she said, "and of course I understand about the nightmares. I get the feeling we're all going to be having them for some time."

"Yeah, I guess so..."

He sat there with her a bit longer, just enjoying the simple comfort of physical contact, and then got up. She joined him in the shower after they both had brushed their teeth, (given what had gone on last night, she told him she didn't mind sharing, but that he should probably get his own toothbrush soon for convenience's sake.) In the shower, they tried to make love again, kissing and caressing, but he was too upset, too anxious, to make it happen and although she said she understood, that just made him feel that much worse.

It didn't get better as they washed, dried, and then dressed. His stomach was roiling madly and as he came with Nova out into the central chamber, where he found the other three sitting around a table and eating breakfast, he was suddenly struck by the overwhelming desire, no the _need_ , to get off this ship, get outside.

"Be right back," he muttered as he turned and hurried out of the room.

"Where are you going?" Nova asked.

"Need some air!" he managed.

He felt like he was going to puke in anger and anxiety. He managed to get back to the cargo ramp and hit it, then stumbled down it as it lowered towards whatever ground the ship was currently resting on. He caught sight of a landing pad, a stack of crates, a building, a few more landing pads. But none of it truly registered. He stumbled and crashed to his hands and knees, head hanging as he tried to catch his breath.

He felt like he was going to pass out, like he was having a panic attack or something.

Footsteps behind him, coming down the ramp. He expected to hear Nova, but when the person spoke, it was Maya.

"Seth, what's wrong?" she asked.

"Nothing," he replied automatically.

"Seth! Come on, tell me. You are obviously in great turmoil. Please, just talk to me. Tell me what's happening-"

He surged to his feet suddenly and spun around. Maya took a step back in surprise, but he could see the caring concern etched into her worried features.

"You want to know what's wrong?!" he snapped, feeling that he'd finally not only hit the edge of his tolerance, but gone careening down into the black abyss beyond it. "Fine, I'll tell you. _Everything!_ What difference does any of this crap make?! What difference does _anything I do make?!_ Why should we do anything? I've been fighting for over a decade to keep the Republic safe. Go to fight the Mandalorians, what happens? They kill millions anyway. We finally beat the bastards and then what happens? Your glorious Jedi friends turn on us and kill millions more! Taris is GONE, MAYA! I was there! _I saw it!_ I saw everything. I saw millions of people dying! And for what? What possible reason? Because some psychotic _Jedi_ was having a bad mood?! For the fun of it?! What difference does anything I do make?! What does it matter!?"

He was gasping for breath now, he felt flushed, his heart hammering painfully in his chest, shaky with rage and adrenaline.

Maya looked back at him, just as concerned as ever, and he had to give her credit for that at least. More than one person had walked (or really backed) away from him when he was in a rage like this, but Maya was standing her ground.

Well, she was a Jedi.

"Seth," she said quietly, "I want to show you something."

"What?" he asked, suddenly tired, exhausted even, as his rage and fury collapsed, leaving him cold. Being this angry was exhausting and his fists unclenched, his hands falling to his sides. "What do you want to show me, Maya?"

"Please, over here."

She began leading him around the ship, to its left side. She pointed at another landing pad a little ways away, where a woman was shifting some crates, unloading them from a pallet someone had dropped off at some point.

"Okay?" he asked.

"Do you recognize her, Seth?"

He frowned, squinted, and in the early morning sun, realized that he did in fact. It was Essale, the woman who had been put in charge of guarding the valuables back on Taris. Now that he was focusing on her, he could see her features a bit more. He remembered her as a grim, bitter-faced, middle-aged woman, made hard by an awful life. But she looked...almost like a different person now. She was smiling in the early-morning sunshine and the cool breeze that whispered across the landing pads, shifting the plants and trees that surrounded the area.

She looked...at peace.

She looked happy.

"Seth," Maya said, and gently placed a hand on his shoulder, then turned him carefully to face her, "what you did matters to _her…_ okay? You saved her life. You have irrevocably changed the course of her life, of the lives of _fifteen people_ forever, and for the better. You did that. You acted, and this was the result. You remember Amentia?" she asked. He nodded, he did. The old woman with the breathing troubles. "She had surgery, Seth. Because you helped bring her here, she got the surgery she needed to correct her lung issues. Her and her husband live on a farm not far from here now. They're happy. They're healing. They all are. Every last one of those fifteen souls you saved from Taris now has access to healthcare and therapy and housing and jobs and clean water. Because of you."

"I didn't do it alone," he murmured.

"No. I know you all helped each other. You and Nova and Seri and Yex. But each of you was crucial. Each of you necessary. I don't think anyone would have gotten off Taris alive if even one of you had failed, and that includes you. Their lives are different now Seth. Their lives, and their children's lives, and their grandchildren, when and if they get there."

"There were so many more..." he whispered, clenching his fists again, looking down. "Even discounting all the millions I abandoned on Taris, there were double the number when we tried to make the run to the ship..."

"Seth," Maya said, her voice hardening, "you didn't abandon anyone. What could you have possibly done differently? Seth, look at me." He shifted his gaze, looking hard into her gray eyes. "You have to stop thinking like this. You can't control reality. You can't control what happens to you. You can only control how you react. I believe you are a good person, and a good soldier. I believe that you genuinely _care_ about people. And losing people is always going to hurt. Seth, sometimes...you can do _everything_ right and still lose. That is not a failure. That is _life._ This anger you have is toxic, it's eating you alive, I already see that. If you don't figure out how to get some control soon...this is going to spiral out of control."

He believed her. He could sense it, too. His bouts of rage and anger and self-hatred had been getting far worse recently.

"I...I don't know where to start," he whispered.

Maya's features softened. "That's okay. I can help you. Believe it or not, I used to have some rage issues as well. I know how hard it can be. For now...I think the fact that you are even acknowledging that you want to have more control over your issues is a good first step. We can talk about this more later, because right now, I think you need to eat. You barely had anything to eat all day yesterday, and for the five days before that. For now...try to get back into a good rhythm of food and sleep. Which, admittedly, might be difficult, given the work we're going to be trying to do. But will you come back onto the ship with me? Sit down with the others, get something to eat?"

He found himself nodding slowly. He _was_ really hungry, his stomach calm again. Looking back again at Essale, he discovered that was actually feeling better, calmer. He couldn't save Taris, couldn't even save all the exiles in his own group…

But he had helped save some of them.

Maya followed his gaze. "Seth," she said quietly, "you can't save everyone. Trying to will only result in failure. But you can save some, and you can help some."

He nodded again. He knew she was right, but…

Seeing a planet get destroyed, even one as awful and racist and classist and Sith-controlled as Taris, was awful. He paused, thinking about that. By the Force, how many of their own had they killed down there?

The Sith truly were monsters.

"Okay, I'm ready to go back in now, and...thank you, Maya," he said awkwardly.

"You're welcome," she replied.

They walked back into the ship. He found the others still sitting around the table. They looked over at him and Maya with varying degrees of worry. Nova looked very concerned. "Uh...sorry about that," he said, still feeling awkward. "I'm okay now. I just...had some issues to work through."

There was a momentary pause. " _I understand, Seth. I am glad you are feeling better,_ " Yex said finally.

That seemed to break up the tension. Seth quickly grabbed some food, he found a package of biscuits and gravy that seemed pretty decently sized, and heated it up, then grabbed a bottle of milk from the fridge.

"We're going to have to restock soon," he said as he sat down next to Nova. Already it seemed that their supply was diminishing, and he was a heavy eater.

"We have many things we'll need to do," Maya said as she sat down with a cup of what was probably tea. "I wish to take this opportunity to discuss our situation, and some of our plans moving forward, with you all."

Nova reached over and laid a hand on his thigh. He paused in his meal, reached down and took her hand, then gave it a small, reassuring squeeze, glancing over at her and smiling. She looked like she wanted to say something, but a quick glance at the others indicated that she wanted to do it alone. He simply nodded to her, and she seemed to pick up on the fact that he had picked up on the fact that she wanted talk, and they would do so as soon as their morning meal was over.

"First order of business: I will be going to the administration building. I have already called ahead, so they at least knew to get their business in order. I do know that when I mentioned Seri and her medical prowess, they couldn't let me know fast enough that they were certainly in need of a skilled medic. So, Seri, it would be most appreciated if you would go to the local clinic and do whatever it is that needs doing for the duration of our stay here," Maya said.

"Not a problem," Seri replied. "I'll be very happy to."

"Excellent! Now, in response to our additional help, the settlement has been willing to part with two technicians. Yex, they will work under you. Your task will be to complete repairs on this vessel. I want it ready to go as fast as is reasonable."

" _I understand,_ " Yex replied, though he sounded somewhat reluctant. Was that reluctance? It was harder to read subtler undertones in aliens. " _When I finish, will I be permitted to assist in any mechanical or technical needs of the settlement?_ "

"Absolutely. That would be greatly appreciated."

" _Then I will endeavor to complete my job in a timely manner._ "

"Perfect. Now, as for the two of you, I am not yet sure what it is that you will be doing, but I'm positive the settlement will have need of a pair of brave and capable warriors, so I will get back to you as soon as I discover what I need to at the administration building. Now, final bit of data. It's something I'll need all of you to do. I'm going to be putting in an order for a full restock of this vessel before we leave Dantooine. I'm not sure when that will be yet. I suppose after we kill the terentatek, if there is indeed one here. So Seri, I want you to write up a list of what medical supplies we should stock the ship with. Yex, do the same for mechanical or technological supplies. Seth, Nova, do the same for weapons and armor. And all of you please add what kind of food you wish for me to get, and also if there is anything else you'll be needing. Clothing, additional bedding, stuff like that. Now...are there any questions?" she asked.

"I have one," Nova said when no one spoke up. Maya looked at her encouragingly. "Are we getting paid for this?"

Seth had totally forgotten about that. He'd meant to ask at some point, but between his time with Nova last night, his exhaustion, and his...emotional troubles, he hadn't had time. But the others seemed at least vaguely interested in this as well.

"I _completely_ forgot about that," Maya said, looking embarrassed. "Yes. This is technically a joint operation between the Jedi and the Republic, given how closely we have become involved in each other's affairs over the past several years, what with the wars and all. So, we are prepared to offer each of you a flat fee of five thousand credits."

"Wow," Seth murmured.

"Hey, nice," Nova said. "Is that five thousand before or after taxes and whatever supplies we end up needing to take down these monsters?"

"After. As I said, a flat fee. At the end of this, each of you will walk away with five thousand legally earned credits."

"Well, fine by me," Nova said.

"Good! Are there any other questions?" Maya looked around. For now, there didn't seem to be any. Maya finished her tea and stood. "All right then, I will go to the administration building. I'll be in touch with you, Seth and Nova, as soon as I have an idea of what they want."

"We'll be around," Nova replied. "We've got communicators and I'll patch them into the ship if we go for a walk or something."

"Excellent."

Maya left. Not long after that, Seri stood, said her farewell, and left the ship as well. Yex finished his own meal and stood. " _I must begin compiling a list of supplies,_ " he said, and walked out of the room.

Seth looked at Nova. "So..." he said.

"So," she replied, "let's go to our room and talk."

"Oh, is it our room now?" Seth asked as they got up and headed deeper into the ship.

"Well it's certainly not _your_ room, but I'm willing to share," Nova replied.

They came into their room and Nova shut the door behind them. She walked over and sat down on the bed that was tucked into its own sort of space in the wall. Seth thought it would be a little claustrophobic so sleep in a somewhat enclosed space like that, but it wasn't. It was actually kind of nice. He sat down beside her.

"So..." he repeated.

"So, before we talk about anything else, I think we should talk about, um...us," Nova said.

"Okay. What's on your mind?"

"I guess I want to figure out exactly where we stand. I mean, we've had sex now and...well, I don't want to stop. But I have learned that I need to be clear about my intentions early on or people tend to get certain ideas. So we should hash it out."

"What are your intentions? Also, I absolutely do not want to stop."

She laughed and rolled her eyes. "Duh. Okay, so...I really like you. You're brave, and you actually care about people, and you're quite handsome. And you're actually pretty great in bed. Or in the shower, I guess. Both. Whatever. You're good at sex. With me so far?"

"With you so far. I feel basically the same way about you. You're so passionate and brave and you are _so_ hot. I can't believe how hot you are. And you are _really_ skilled at sex."

She smirked at him. "Glad you think so. So, same page so far. Here's the thing...I'm bad at relationships. I just...don't do well at them. So I don't really try to have them anymore. Don't take this the wrong way but I get the feeling you're bad at relationships, too."

"Still on the same page," Seth agreed.

"Okay, good. So this is what I'm proposing: how about, for the duration of this job, we share a room and keep having sex and being affectionate?" she suggested.

"That sounds like a fantastic idea to me," he replied. "What about exclusivity?"

"Hmm...sex with other people, you mean," she murmured. "Well...how about we treat that on a case by case basis? Unless otherwise agreed upon, let's keep this exclusive. Sound good?"

"Fine by me," Seth replied.

"Awesome! Now that that's out of the way...wanna have sex?"

"Yes," he replied, and she turned and shoved him onto his back, then climbed on top of him.


	19. Chapter 19: Tranquility

"So, Seth...I feel like kind of a bitch now," Nova murmured.

"What? Why?" he replied, startled out of the near half-doze he'd fallen into with her still in his arms, both by her sudden words and by what she had said. They were both nude and laying together, embracing on the bed.

"I got all wrapped up in getting off, I completely forgot to ask...what happened out there? When you ran off?"

"Oh." He paused, considering it. It _was_ important.

"If you don't want to talk about it-"

"No, no it's fine, Nova," he replied. "I just...I kind of freaked out. I kept thinking of all those people who died on Taris. It was filling my brain. I was just-I kept asking myself over and over again, what does it matter? If the Sith can just kill a _planet_ like that, then what does anything I do matter? You know?"

"I know exactly how you feel," Nova whispered. "But you came back in so much calmer...what did Maya say to you?"

"She said-" he paused, suddenly picking up on something in her voice. "Are you...jealous?"

"No!" Nova replied, then sighed. "No, I'm just...okay, I get a little touchy in the beginnings of relationships...I mean, not that this is a relationship, but you know what I mean. Flings. Affairs. Whatever. Don't worry, I'm not going to let it affect what we've got going on."

"It's okay," he said, then laughed a little bit.

"What?" she all but demanded.

"It's just...I don't know. It seems a little silly, you being jealous. You're so freaking attractive. I mean beyond that just incredible body you have and how clearly skilled you are in bed, you can fight better than most soldiers I've severed with. You're a good person, you're brave, you're competent and a total badass. What do you have to be worried about? If anything, I'm the one that should be worried," he replied.

"Why's that?"

"I mean...well, just look at me. I'm not very attractive, I've got all these ugly ass scars. More now since I got burned coming down from the _Spire_..." he murmured, looking down at his right bicep. That was where the most prevalent scarring from the burns was.

"Well, Seth, _I_ happen to think you are very handsome. And scars are hot. And, believe it or not, personality means a lot to me. You...Seth, you were willing to die to help those people. I was nervous before, but you made it happen. _That_ is attractive."

"So you trust me now?" he asked.

She opened her mouth, then faltered. "Well, I'm sleeping next to you."

"That sounds like an evasion, Nova."

"Well, I mean...do you trust me?" she asked.

"Yes," he replied simply. "I trust you, Nova."

"I..." she worked her mouth for a few seconds, then sighed. "I'm sorry. I do...trust you, Seth. I just...I have a hard time with trust."

"It's okay," he said. "I won't push."

"Thank you. I appreciate it. So you didn't answer my question. What did she say to you?"

"She said...you know what? I can show you, actually. I want to show you. Come on, you'll love this," he said, getting up suddenly.

"I'll need a shower," Nova said.

"Yeah, I guess I will, too."

* * *

They showered, and then dried and dressed, and Nova tracked down a comm link. When they went onto the bridge to hook it into the ship's own comm network, they passed Yex standing with a pair of technicians, a human woman and a male twi'lek, instructing them on something. After they'd linked the comms, they left the ship.

"Oh wow," Nova whispered as they walked down the ramp. "This is just...incredible."

Seth had to agree. He actually didn't remember much from his earlier trip outside, when he was losing his mind, but now he took it all in. Dantooine was absolutely beautiful. The landing pads, (there was no port yet, just a trio of freshly constructed concrete pads), were built onto a rise of land that overlooked not just the colony itself, but miles and miles of the surrounding area. He saw a forest, to the far north, and other stands of trees, small copses and larger collections. He saw rivers cutting tracks through the grasslands, leading into and out of lakes. He saw ponds, little glades, and farms scattered across the area.

Below, he could see the colony itself, which wasn't very large, a collection of newly constructed metal structures arranged around a few roads. There were maybe two dozen structures. Some of them housing complexes, and he saw what must be the administration building, the largest structure in the area at the head of the colony, the clinic, and several other buildings that he couldn't easily identify. Probably industrial in nature, rather than commercial. Stores and shops and cafes would probably come later.

Behind them, in the far distance, he saw a row of massive wind turbines, spinning lazily. One of them wasn't moving.

All of this was presided over by a cloudless blue sky and a brilliant, clean sunshine. Well, not completely cloudless, he saw. In the far distance, he saw a gray cloud front. Rain? Please, by the Force, let it rain soon.

And…

Something else.

"What is _that?_ " Nova asked, clearly amused.

A large, gray...thing with a narrow tail and broad...Seth was reluctant to call them wings, but he supposed the word would do, was flying gently through the sky. Sailing, actually. Sailing, gliding maybe, through the sky about a hundred feet up.

"I have no idea, but...I like it," Seth replied.

Nova giggled. "I do, too. It's...cute."

Seth looked back at the colony. Some people were walking through it in the early morning sunshine, going about their jobs. "Come on," he said, offering her his hand, "let's go down there and see if we can find anyone we know."

She took his hand, grinning and lacing their fingers together. "Let's."

They walked together down to the newly established settlement, and ran into the first familiar face within just a few minutes. Sally, one of the gate guards, was hardly recognizable. She was clean, mainly, looking fresh and happy, her hair washed and pulled into a tight ponytail, cut shorter than when she'd been in the Undercity. She seemed...taller. No, he realized. She was standing up straighter. And she was smiling. He wasn't sure he'd actually seen her smile once during his tenure down there. Grin grimly maybe, but not smile.

She was smiling when she found them.

She had on a suit of brand new Republic mod armor that gleamed nicely in the sun. "Seth! Nova!" she said happily, stopping to speak with them. She had a blaster rifle, hanging from a shoulder strap that also looked new.

"Sally," Nova said. "You look wonderful. And...healthy. And happy."

"Thanks, all three accounts," she replied, practically beaming. "I got a job, too. Security, morning shift. I love it so much. As for the healthy thing, yeah. Been working big time on that. They shoved me in the infirmary when I first got here. Ran a full scan, made me sleep for a full night, pumped me full of vitamins and nutrients and supplements and all sorts of crap. I was dehydrated, sick with something, too, sleep deprived…" She lost her smile suddenly.

"I didn't realize...how bad I was. You know, I was exiled when I was fifteen, twenty years ago. I was homeless, living in the Lower City...got caught stealing from someone important when I snuck up to the Upper City. Wrong place, wrong time. Got thrown through the 'legal system' and wound up downstairs. And I spent so long feeling tired, sick, disgusting, angry, hungry...I had completely forgotten what it was like to feel just... _normal_ again. The background static of all that has finally fallen away because I'm getting _healthy_ again! I had forgotten what happy was. I didn't think it was possible any longer..."

She hesitated, swallowed, blinked a few times. "I just wanted to say thank you-" Her voice cracked and she cleared her throat. "To both of you. If it wasn't for you, I'd...we'd all still be there on Taris. Probably dead, actually. And...I don't have words to describe to you how much this means to me. I will never be able to properly thank you for what you have done for me."

"I...don't know what to say, beyond: you're welcome. And you deserve it, being here. You've earned it, Sally," Nova replied quietly.

She smiled and seemed to find her emotional feet again as she sniffed and rubbed at her eyes. "Well, I'm earning it, at least. They've put me to work as security. Me and Zacden, actually. He's still grumpy, but he's actually enjoying himself, obviously. Who wouldn't, under these circumstances? I think I saw Essale unloading crates."

"Yes, I saw her earlier this morning," Seth replied.

"A few of the others are still back at the Jedi Enclave. They were in bad shape, or needed surgery, or extended stays for illnesses. I'm not sure what they're going to do, but I'm staying here. I love this place. I want to help build this place, want to help keep it safe. And..." she paused, and looked around, "isn't this the most beautiful place you've ever seen?"

"Yes," Nova replied.

"It is," Seth agreed. "This place is wonderful."

"So much better than Taris..." She sighed and adjusted the strap of her rifle. "Well, I really need to get back to patrol. Have to keep watch out. There's apparently some Mandalorians about."

"Mandalorians? Here?" Seth asked, feeling a cold stone of worry drop into his gut. He felt Nova tense at his side.

"Yeah, I guess so. Haven't seen any myself, but we're on alert. Anyway, um...thank you again. Truly. If you need anything, please just ask. Also, I'm curious, what do you plan on doing?"

"Well, we're staying here for now, and helping out. Seri and Yex are around, too," Seth replied.

"I'll have to go see them. Well, thanks again. I have to go."

They said their goodbyes and Seth and Nova watched her go, resuming her patrol.

"This is what you wanted to show me," Nova said quietly.

"It's what Maya showed me," Seth replied. "What she made me understand. Put into words. I guess, the simplest way I can put it is, we didn't save Taris. We couldn't, obviously. We didn't save everyone at the settlement, either. But we saved Sally. We saved Essale. We saved those who we did. And it matters to _them._ What we do matters to the people we help. That's how I'm kind of...getting a handle on things."

"Yeah..." Nova murmured. "It...makes sense." She sighed suddenly, looked around Dantooine. "I guess I've got some thinking to do myself while I'm here. Come on, let's see if we can find some others."

They set off again.

* * *

They had another hour or so before Maya tracked them down via comms.

She had them come to the administration building, and now they were on approach. He was holding hands with Nova and enjoying their time together immensely. It felt so good to just...take a walk with a girl he liked. (And was sleeping with.) Especially on a place as warm and beautiful as Dantooine, among people who they had saved. The administration building sat at the northern end of the colony, at the end of the central road, and was easily the largest building in the area. Not that it was particularly big.

Two stories, roughly L shaped, lots of windows that looked into what mostly seemed to be offices and the like. They walked in through the front doors, letting go of each other, at least trying to appear professional. He had sensed a tension in her that hadn't left ever since their conversation with Sally, probably because he had that exact same tension as well. He knew what had set them both off: Mandalorians.

Could they truly be here, on Dantooine?

It seemed impossible that such a such a beautiful, peaceful place could be home to such a reckless, bloodthirsty group as the Mandalorians. But life seemed to enjoy punishing you for what you couldn't imagine. And he knew it was all too possible. A lot of Mandalorians had been killed in the war, but not all of them. And those that survived had scattered to the solar winds. Some ended up as bodyguards, some as mercs for hire, some he'd heard had reformed into clans and were trying to get the old 'glory days' going again, assaulting outlying and peaceful worlds.

Well, if that's what they'd decided to do here, then they were going to die.

Plain and simple.

They came into the reception area and Seth looked around. It looked freshly constructed, understaffed, and pretty bare. There wasn't even anyone at the front desk, nor anyone sitting around in the waiting area. Seth walked up and knocked on the wooden surface of the desk. There was a pause, then, after several moments, someone finally appeared from a doorway behind it. He was a young guy, barely out of his teens, and he looked tired and hassled.

"Hello," he said, trying to sound not stressed out, "how can I help you?"

"We're looking for Maya, the Jedi," Seth replied.

"Oh, yes. Uh...through that door there, all the way to the end of the hall," he replied, seemingly relieved, possibly to be faced with a problem that he could so easily and quickly solve. They thanked him and headed deeper into the building.

There were several doors along the walls of the main corridor. Some led to offices, a few to bathrooms, a break room, what looked to be simply storage areas, and not well-organized ones either. Finally, they came to a few conference rooms, and here Maya and a middle-aged woman were, talking quietly together, their heads bowed over a table, studying something intently. Seth knocked lightly on the door.

They both looked up, annoyed, but Maya's features smoothed out when she saw him and waved them in.

"Hello," she said, smiling. "Madeline, these are the two I was telling you about. The fighters."

"I hear you want to help," the woman, Madeline said. She had that amiable tone that came from years of speaking to subordinates and addressing boardrooms full of execs and business types. She sounded pleasant enough, but very competent and a bit stern. Exactly the kind of person you wanted administrating a freshly built colony.

"We fully intend to help," Nova replied.

"Excellent. We could use the help of a few skilled fighters. Please, come here," she said, motioning to them and making room at the table.

They joined her and Maya and Seth found himself looking down at a holographic display being projected from a portable device. It showed what he quickly realized was a topographical map of the area. He saw the colony and the landing pads, several outlying farms, heavily forested areas, and the line of wind turbines.

One of them was flashing red.

"These eight wind turbines here currently represent our most valuable asset at the colony, besides the colonists themselves. They provide power not only to the colony, but to the farms as well. We have generators but the amount of power we need is too much for them. If even one is down, it's a problem. And one of them has gone down. It happened sometime last night, and at present, no one has responded to our comms calls. We haven't yet had an opportunity to send someone out here. I admit I am a little...paranoid, with word of Mandalorians around. If you two would be so good as to take a swoop bike out there and investigate, I would greatly appreciate it. And if you need assistance, I do have a small squad on alert. They can be there in fifteen minutes."

"That's pretty abysmal for reaction time," Seth murmured.

"I know. I'm sorry, it's the best I can do," Madeline replied curtly.

"It'll have to do then," he said. "I guess we'll just have to not need backup. But don't worry, we'll get the job done. Although..." He realized that he had yet to actually get his hands on any kind of real gear, and suddenly regretted that he hadn't taken the opportunity to check out the ship's armory, (if it even had one), or the rest of the ship for that matter, and start putting together his requisition form. "We're going to new gear: armor, weapons, energy clips, a few blades if you can spare them."

"Yes, we thought of that. Please, come this way," Madeline said, turning about face and leading all three of them out of the room.

They moved down the next section of the admin building, passing some more secure areas. They passed a door that led into an area with a row of very heavy doors. "What's that?" he asked, pausing and glancing in.

"Lockup," Madeline replied.

"You had to use it yet?" Nova asked as they resumed walking.

"Not yet, thankfully. I'm hoping we have to use it very little. Really, it's just a holding area. Half of them are full of storage crates at the moment since we're short on space. In the event something serious does happen, we'll have to hold them until someone can come pick them up and take them to a larger settlement for trial. And here we are, our armory."

A bored-looking man was sitting in a small, enclosed area behind blaster-proof glass. He looked up and snapped to attention when he saw them.

"Administrator," he said tightly.

"Hello, Alan. Please make a note in the log that these two are to have access to the armory. They're here to help and represent the Jedi Enclave and the Republic."

"Yes, ma'am," he replied, then turned his attention to the two of them. "Names?"

"Sergeant Seth Kast."

"Nova Star."

He pursed his lips, briefly scrutinizing Nova, then just typed it into his terminal. Seth realized that he'd never heard her last name before, or if he had, he'd forgotten. It was unlikely that that was her real name, but a lot of bounty hunters took on new or fake names. He just hope she had some kind of legal papers to back it up somewhere.

Once they were entered into the database, he had them press their thumbs against a small pad, then entered _that_ into the database as well. Seth was used to this, but Nova looked a little uncomfortable. He sympathized. Given what little he knew about her, she seemed like she liked to have as little info about her out there as possible.

When that was over, they were granted access to the armory through a heavy, reinforced door to the left of the glass cubicle. Seth stepped inside first and looked around. He wasn't particularly impressed with what he saw, but he reminded himself that this was a newly formed settlement, not a military outpost.

"That's mine," he said as he spied a set of shiny, polished silver Republic mod armor.

"You can have it. Can't really see myself in that armor," Nova replied.

She herself selected a suit of tan basic combat armor, like the one she'd had back on Taris, only this was also brand new and fresh, looking like it had never been used. The pair of them quickly began suiting up right there.

"What kind of situation might we be looking at?" Seth asked as he pulled the armor on.

"We're concerned that it might be Mandalorian raiders. Or some other opportunistic thieves," Madeline replied. "Unfortunately the wind farm represents a significant investment of resources. I've been concerned of something happening ever since they went up last month. Each building does have its own security system, but it's rather rudimentary, and we simply don't have the manpower to provide any kind of consistent patrol. We've been relying largely on luck. Because it's down right now, three farms are relying on generators, and one just reported that its generator malfunctioned, so they're completely without power. And it has placed an additional strain on the colony itself. I'm afraid it is imperative we get it back online."

"Understood," Seth replied. He finished with his armor and grabbed a full field kit: full charged blaster pistol and holster for one hip, clean, polished, and sharp sword and sheath for his other hip, a medical pack, a pair of fragmentation grenades and a pair of concussion grenades, a nice looking blaster rifle, (Republic standard), and several spare energy clips for both weapons. Nova pretty much decked herself out with the same gear.

"We'll secure the area and report the situation as quickly as possible," Seth said.

"Thank you. I actually feel...reassured," Madeline replied. "When they told me your group was flying over from the Enclave, I wasn't sure what to make of the situation. But from what I understand your medic has been very helpful. She's very knowledgeable."

"Seri's great," Nova agreed, "highly skilled and dedicated."

"How are we to get there?" Seth asked as they left the armory and began making their way back outside.

"There's a swoop bike up by the landing pads, Maya will take you there. I'll be waiting for your report," Madeline replied.

They stepped back out into the sunshine. "You'll get it as soon as we're able," Seth promised.

"Thank you. Good luck."

She shook their hands in turn, then disappeared back into the admin building. He and Nova began to follow Maya back to the landing pads.

"Please be careful," she said. "I know you are both skilled and confident, but...Mandalorians are very dangerous."

"I'm well aware of that," Seth replied, harsher than he meant to.

"As am I," Nova murmured.

"I suppose I should have known that, from your service record," she said to Seth. "You've had experience with them Nova?"

"Yes. They...destroyed my life at one point."

"I'm so sorry."

"Yeah, so am I."

"We'll be careful, Maya," Seth said, trying to smooth things over. He was really trying not to be an asshole, especially now that Maya had been helpful and kind to him, and clearly wanted to help further. It was just…

She was a Jedi.

He didn't know if he'd ever be comfortable around her.

They reached the landing pad, and found the swoop bike waiting for them. Seth climbed on and started it up. Nova climbed on as well and hugged him from behind.

"Good luck," Maya said.

"Thank you. We'll be in touch."

He revved the engine, then shot off towards the dead turbine in the distance.


	20. Chapter 20: Uncomfortable Silence

Seth enjoyed most of the ride over to the wind farm.

The sun was shining, the cool wind was whipping past him, the clean, fresh smell of nature surrounding him. There was even a herd of those strange gray flapping things in the sky, majestically roaming off to the north. And of course Nova was at his back, holding him tightly around the midsection. It felt so good to have her against him, especially from the way she was holding him. There was affection in her touch.

It was during the last minute or so of their approach that a feeling of cold dread began to seep slowly into his guts, worming its way around in his intestines and doing a slow creep up his spine. Something about that dead wind turbine...it took on a sinister quality as they drew closer. Now it seemed like a monolithic thing, presiding over some terrible secret. Nova could sense it, too: he felt her grip tighten, her body tensing.

They stopped an appreciable distance from the site, and as he killed the engine and surveyed the area, he immediately caught sight of several warning factors. There were two unmoving bodies sprawled in the grassy area around the turbine itself, and a scattering of random debris, including a small crater from what might have been a concussion grenade. He and Nova both got off silently, each on opposite sides, and drew their weapons.

"Sweep the area," Seth said quietly. "Meet at the turbine."

"Understood," Nova replied tightly.

They split off. It was a bad place to be, too much open ground, no trees around, just a lot of grassy field and the turbine itself, all of it flat. Seth kept a sharp eye and ear open as he approached the first corpse. Crouching briefly, he checked the man over. One of the locals, he surmised. The man wore a blue jumpsuit, all the pockets of which were emptied. He'd been shot in the head with a blaster. Seth grit his teeth together as he rose.

Death had come to Dantooine, and he'd bet it was the damned Mandalorians.

 _Keep focused,_ he reminded himself. He hurried over to the next corpse, this one a woman, local security, also shot dead and picked clean. He and Nova performed their sweep of the area. They found a third corpse, another tech, behind the turbine, and then met at the structure itself. Near the front, and only, entrance was a sort of makeshift work area. A canopy had been lashed to the side of the structure, held up by metal poles, and beneath it were a pair of basic tables, some foldout chairs, a metal shelf, and a few crates. There were some tools, a few spare parts, scattered across the ground, but it looked like the place had been cleaned out.

The crates were emptied, the shelf and tables almost totally bare. Blaster fire marked the walls in one area and the canopy was ripped. It flapped in the wind, the only sound for miles. He and Nova gathered at the entrance, which looked like it had been blasted open with explosives.

"Mandalorians, no doubt," Nova said, and spit angrily on the ground.

"Come on, we have to see if anyone made it. I'm pretty sure the bastards who attacked this place are gone, no speeder bikes left, but maybe some of ours are holed up," Seth said. Nova just nodded tightly and he led the way in.

Keeping the blaster rifle charged and tucked tight into his shoulder, Seth cleared the first room they came to. The lights inside had failed. He flicked on the barrel-mounted flashlight and the pale beam burned away the shadows that were gathering along the peripheral of the room. The room they'd come to was the size of the whole turbine. It was packed with crap, tables mostly, and several crates and shelves. Mainly they were shoved up against the walls but really they were placed wherever there was room.

A circular stairwell led up to the next level over to the right and, below it, another curved stairway led down, into the basement.

"Stay here, make sure nothing comes out of that basement," he whispered. "I need to clear the upper stories."

Nova looked like she wanted to argue, but seemed to defer to his judgment in the situation and just nodded again. He was so glad to have her at his back right now. The first floor looked like a chaotic mess. Besides the fact that the explosives had done some damage when they'd blow the door in, the place looked ransacked. Obviously a lot of tools and parts had been 'appropriated' by whatever assholes had come through here.

There were two corpses on the ground, two more settlers, both of them technicians. Feeling that old hatred and anger boiling somewhere deep in his gut, Seth bit down on it and made himself focus. Keeping it tight and careful, he made his way up to the second story. Here another room packed with gear and equipment awaited his inspection. There was another stairwell leading up again, and two doors along the opposite wall.

He checked each out. One led to a bathroom, another to a makeshift bedroom where a trio of bunkbeds took up almost all of the available space. So this must serve as a kind of outpost for whoever's job it was to maintain these turbines. Well, it would suck, but it made more sense to have someone out here all the time and rotate them out from time to time instead of only being able to get people out here every now and then. Obviously it hadn't counted for much, though. The third floor, and last one in this direction, just contained a control room that looked surprisingly untouched. Well, maybe they figured they'd hit it when they came back.

He hoped they came back.

His blaster was aching for some use.

After making for damned sure there were no survivors on either side of the friend-or-foe line around, he returned to Nova, who was standing watch at the entrance to the basement. "Anything?" she asked.

"Nothing," he replied.

"Then let's finish this. Maybe some of them are still alive," she said, though she didn't sound particularly hopeful.

After everything that had happened recently, he didn't feel that way either. But he pressed on, nonetheless, and they descended the curved stairwell, moving slowly. He let Nova take the lead this time, because she seemed almost eager for it. They came to a small room at the very bottom of the stairs with a single door. It was more of a transitional room than anything else. The door was shut and, it turned out, locked.

They tried knocking. "Hello! Republic Forces, open up!" Seth called.

No response. Not even a single sound from the other side. They tried knocking for a few more minutes and didn't hear anything.

"I don't like this," Nova whispered.

He nodded. Something was wrong here, but he couldn't tell what, only that his instincts were shifting uncomfortable, anxiety shot through with paranoia.

"Do you think you can get it open?" he asked softly, indicating the lock. It looked undamaged, and probably whoever had done the assault had been happy enough to let the locals lock themselves up while they cased the joint.

"I think so," Nova replied. She dropped to her knee and studied the lock. "So you just assume I can pick locks?" she asked after a moment.

"I mean...I figured you could. Useful skill for a bounty hunter to have," he replied.

She laughed softly. "Not quite the phrasing security uses when the subject comes up."

"You've had a lot of run-ins with security?" he asked.

She hesitated, and Seth was again reminded of the notion that they probably came from very different sides of the law. Not that that was always true of him, though. He'd caused his fair share of trouble in his youth...though more out of desperation than adolescent rebellion.

"Some," she said. She continued talking quietly as she kept working. "Seth...I'm not perfect. I know I got mad at you back on Taris when I thought you were judging me, told you I was good person. I...I mean, I still think I am. But I've done some bad things when I was younger. I've had to hurt and kill people in my line of work as a bounty hunter, but I don't really regret it. I mean, I regret that it had to be done, but I don't hurt people that don't really deserve it. But that wasn't always true. I've...I don't have a good history."

"Neither do I," Seth replied after a few seconds.

"Maybe we should talk about that sometime."

"If you feel up to it..." he hesitated, thinking about it. Did he? Damn, how long had it been since he'd had an honest conversation with someone about his upbringing, his past, his history? Too long. "You show me yours and I'll show you mine," he said finally.

A long pause. "I'll think about it."

Something clicked loudly, followed by a sharp chime, and the door opened. "Republic coming in!" Seth called as Nova pushed the door open and stayed crouched. He aimed his blaster rifle over her head, waiting.

The flashlight's beam revealed another room that had a much more unfinished look to it, like they'd still been in the process of building it.

There was a lot of blood.

"Oh no..." Nova whispered.

"What...happened?" Seth muttered, trying to piece together what he was seeing. There was a _lot_ of blood. But no bodies. He slowly walked into the room, his instincts screaming louder than ever, but clearly _something_ had happened to the colonists. There was just a single door at the back of the room, and it led to another, even more unfinished room.

"So they were attacked...they fled down here, locked themselves in..." Nova murmured.

"And then what?" Seth asked softly.

"I don't know... _something_ attacked them, obviously. But what could possibly be down here?"

"I guess we'll find out."

Nova didn't reply. He led the way now. After clearing the first room, he stepped into the second and found a rough-cut doorway at the back. A bolt of fear and anxiety shot through him as he saw bare, rock walls beyond that doorway: a cave of some kind.

"I think they realized there was a cave down here...maybe they blasted into it, trying to expand, repurpose it..." he whispered.

A thick trail of blood led down into the cave.

"I don't want to go in there," Nova muttered.

"I don't either, but we have to," Seth replied.

"We should call for backup."

"We will. But someone could be in there, hurt, needing help."

She sighed. "You're right. Come on."

They moved into the space beyond, coming to a small cavern. Now Nova turned on her light as well. Seth studied the natural space beyond. It was clear that the colonists had been in the process of converting the cave system into something usable. Storage, probably. Or, depending on how extensive the network of tunnels and caverns was, maybe even a means of travel between areas, or some kind of emergency shelter even.

But things lived in caves.

Dangerous things dwelt beneath the ground.

Something let out a strange growl from somewhere else in the area. It was familiar, but he couldn't place it.

The blood trail went off to the left, down one of three tunnels snaking away from them.

"Come on," Seth said softly, and made himself begin following it.

Nova backed him up.

They silently made their way into the leftmost tunnel. Someone had strung up work-lights and tagged marks on the walls, but the lights no longer functioned. More blood streaked the rough rock walls now and Seth was fighting not to gag from the heavy reek of death on the air. He'd been exposed to it so many times, he always thought he'd get used to it eventually, that at some point it wouldn't affect him anymore.

It'd been over a decade and still no luck.

"Stop," he whispered, and Nova froze behind him.

The tunnel came to an end up ahead. There was nothing but darkness beyond, but the reek was awful now, overwhelming, almost unbearable.

Something shifted in the gloom and his combat instincts spiked even harder, shrieking at him madly to get out of there.

"Nova..." he whispered, and hated the way his voice sounded, "back...back up. Um...get back. Now. Right now."

She said nothing and began rapidly backing away. He joined her. Something else moved, and then another thing did.

And then finally the whole, full weight of the reality he now found himself in came to bear as one of the shapes finally resolved themselves in his gently bobbing flashlight's beam. It was a kinrath. The awful thing was a bundle of thin legs attached to a misshapen body of ugly, calloused, pale flesh. Beneath a sneering, maddened, alien face a fifth appendage grew, tipped with a razor claw. The thing squealed at him and began charging for him.

Seth had hit the overcharge and when he fired the blast, obliterating the awful beast, it briefly lit up the cavern around it. Two awful facts were thrown into harsh clarity: there were a lot more kinrath, and the walls were lined with the dead.

"Fall back!" Seth screamed as he began moving back as fast as he could without falling over, firing off as many shots as he could manage. "Fall back!"

The kinrath moved as one, filling the tunnel, oozing out into it like a malignant plague. He squeezed the trigger as fast as he could, the tunnel flashing madly from his muzzle flare, red bolts of energy cutting through the air, slicing into kinrath bodies and spraying the walls with their blood. One fell, missing its head. Another went down, the central mass of flesh that served it as a torso pumped full of charred holes. A third crashed to the rocky ground, missing a limb and shrieking madly as it struggled to regain its feet.

Still they came, too many of them.

Seth kept firing, the gun rattling in his tight, sweaty grasp, until the energy clip was dry. With shaky hands, never taking his eyes from the ever-advancing horde, he reloaded, ejecting the spent clip and slapping a fresh one in, listening to that reassuring him as he resumed fire. Suddenly, he was back in the initial cavern.

"Seth! Move!" Nova screamed somewhere behind him.

He wanted to throw a grenade, but was terrified of bringing the place down on them in a cave-in. He turned and sprinted away, making for the doorway. She was there, waiting for him. As soon as he was through, they sprinted through the underground sections, listening to the kinrath horde shriek and hiss and growl.

They hit the door Nova had initially picked the lock of and as soon as they were through, she slammed it shut hard and reengaged the lock. They hurried back through the outpost until they had gotten back outside into the sunshine.

The pair stared at the blown-open doorway for a long time, rifles pointed at it.

Nothing came out.

After a long several minutes, Seth finally activated his radio. "Maya? This is Seth. Uh...gonna need some backup. We're going to need your help. Over."

" _Why? What happened?"_ she asked, sounding worried.

"From the looks of things, someone attacked the turbine, I'm guessing Mandalorians, stole a bunch of parts and tools, and the survivors locked themselves in the basement. Unfortunately, the basement leads to a cave that's infested with kinrath. Over."

A long pause. When Maya spoke again, she sounded grim but resolute. _"Understood, Seth. Are you and Nova okay?"_

"Yes."

" _Okay. I'm on my way with backup."_


	21. Chapter 21: Mounting An Assault

Maya rode up with a small cadre of security personnel about twenty minutes later.

Seth and Nova were standing guard outside the turbine. So far, nothing had come out. Not a single sound had been issued out of the structure. Seth had calmed down considerably, but the thought of going back into that darkness made him ill at ease. Nova seemed to be in much the same situation. Seeing Maya and five security personnel did help, though. Although Seth did have mixed feelings about seeing Sally.

He was glad to have her as backup. He knew that she was a capable warrior. But...after all that had happened on Taris, he hated to see her in real danger again. She'd already endured so much. But, he tried telling himself, life was dangerous.

It didn't help much.

"What's happening?" Maya asked as they all dismounted from the speeders they'd ridden over, moving to join Seth and Nova. The security personnel looked professional in their gleaming Republic mod armor, but some of them looked antsy and anxious. Not Sally, though. She almost looked...hungry, like she was scrapping for a fight.

"There's a kinrath nest in the caves beneath the turbine," he said, addressing the group, "so far as we know, they're contained there, but it's possible they've breach the structure itself."

"All right, what's the best way to handle this?" Maya asked.

He hesitated. It was still very strange to have her ask him to decide anything, but he supposed he had more direct combat experience than anyone else here. Well...maybe. Sally had been living a hard life longer than he'd been in the military. But she and the others seemed just as willing to listen to him as Maya was.

"We move in, clear the structure carefully. You, you, and you," he said, pointing at Sally and two others he didn't recognize, "you head upstairs, sweep the area. There's two stories up there. Be careful, there's a lot of places kinrath may hide. Everyone else with me, we're going downstairs to secure the basement. Once that's finished, everyone meets in the basement, we're going to take the fight into the caves and clear them out. Does everyone have flashlights?" Everyone but Maya did. "Fine. Any questions?"

There were none.

"Then let's do it."

The next ten minutes passed slowly, but not in a bad way. There was something strangely comforting about securing the area with backup. Seth's instincts told him the area remained secured, that the kinrath were still in the caves, and he was proven right. The only door into the caves remained locked and intact.

"Those work-lights," Seth said, pointing to a quartet of powerful work-lights perched on tripods sitting along the far wall of the room they were in, "grab them, see if they have power."

"What do you have in mind?" Maya asked as the two soldiers they'd brought with them set to work.

"We're going to have them come to us, and I'd rather have a lot of light for that," he replied.

"Good idea."

After they confirmed that they were all battery powered and that they had sufficient power, Sally and the others met them in the basement, ensuring that the upper levels remained cleared. "Okay, Nova, get the door unlocked. Maya, we're going to stand close by to back her up. Everyone else, defensive positions around the room, be ready. The kinrath may be on the other side of that doorway," he said, and received a string of 'yes, sir!'s, although he heard one or two people say 'Yes, Sergeant!' That felt...familiar, and oddly comforting.

Once everyone was in position, Nova unlocked the door. She stepped back, weapon unslung, and Seth opened it up. He tensed, preparing himself for a vicious onslaught, but nothing happened. There was darkness and silence beyond the doorway.

"Move up," he said tensely, and went through the doorway first, flicking his flashlight on. Back into the damp, dark cave. Somewhere, water dripped, and something let out a muffled shriek. But the way beyond remained clear as Nova and Maya joined him.

"Stay here," he said, and moved back to the other room. "Okay, everyone. Help me get these out there and in position."

He spent the next few minutes helping the soldiers carry the work-lights out into the initial cavern and set them into place where they would provide light on the three main exits, two of them pointing at the way he and Nova had first gone. Once he was sure they weren't in the way and would stay on, he had everyone get into position.

"All right, everyone ready, this is going to be rough. Sally, Mercer, I want you two watching our back. We've got no idea what might be in those other tunnels and all the fighting might draw something else's attention."

Both of them responded affirmatively, and everyone got into position.

"Weapons free!" he called. Another string of affirmative replies. "Okay...I'm going to lure them out."

"That seems dangerous, Seth," Maya said quietly.

"What isn't?" he replied, and strode off into the tunnel.

He really didn't feel like doing this, but he felt like leaving it to someone else even less. He hated the idea of another person accepting this level of risk when he was there. If he died, he wasn't sure the galaxy would experience any great loss. Besides, he'd done this once already and lived, so he could probably do it again.

Probably.

He began to hear the sounds of the kinrath as he drew closer. Finally, he came close to the entrance of their cavern and took a few quick breaths.

"Okay, I can do this," he whispered to himself.

Then he aimed his blaster rifle into the cave and cut loose with a spray of crimson bolts that lit the area up. Immediately a chorus of shrieks went up and he heard the awful symphony of scrabbling that was the kinrath legion. He didn't even bother trying to kill any of the others. Instead, he turned, let his rifle hang by its sling over his shoulder, and began sprinting as fast as he possibly could back the way he'd come.

The kinrath army gave chase.

He managed to make it down that tunnel in record time, kept on sprinting until he was out of the firing zone, then dug in his heels, spun around, and dropped to one knee. Raising his rifle, he aimed back the way he had come, lit up with powerful work-lights, and cut loose. About a second later, so did everyone else.

The kinrath shriveled and burned under the combined blaster fire, but there were a lot of them. Seth emptied his energy clip and slapped a fresh one in, then kept up the rapid fire, hosing the monstrous horde down with more blaster fire. But they were already slipping past, into the cavern. One of them dodged and leaped for him. It was suddenly swept aside in a burst of invisible energy. He saw Maya gesture sharply and the thing hit the far rock wall and splattered into bloody broken bits. With a burst of energy, her lightsaber ignited and she hurled it into the breach. More kinrath screamed and shriek as they were sliced open by the burning blade, which continued on its flipping path before returning to her hand expertly.

It took maybe another sixty seconds before the tide was stemmed and finally the last kinrath fell, and no more came.

"Are we clear?" Seth asked, raising and looking around.

The others called that they were clear, nothing had come from the other two tunnels during the fight. He sighed, slowly releasing his breath. "Okay, um...Maya, with me. Nova, help them block off the other two tunnels with crates for now."

Nova hesitated, then nodded. "Okay."

"Thank you."

He began heading towards the tunnel and Maya followed after him. The smell was awful but he pushed it out as much as he could. As he headed into the tunnel, he stopped suddenly, then turned back. "Could you use the Force you hover one of those lights along behind us?"

"Uh...yes, I suppose I could," she replied.

"I'd appreciate it."

She nodded and gestured at one of the work-lights. It raised a few inches off the ground and then moved forward until it was behind them. As they resumed walking down the rock tunnel, it stayed a few feet behind them. Seth was impressed. It didn't wobble or shift around at all, and seemed almost locked into place, totally consistent in its movement and relative distance to them. She must be very strong in the Force.

"How long have you been a Jedi?" he asked.

"Thirty years," she replied.

"Wow. That's...quite awhile for a Jedi."

"Not really. I know several who have been a Jedi twice that long, some three times that length," she said.

"I guess. You just don't seem...over thirty, I guess."

"I'm thirty five," she replied.

"Hmm."

They finally reached the end of the tunnel, stepping over a number of kinrath corpses, and came into the cavern beyond. The smell was the worst here. Seth had Maya bring the light a little into the cavern, then nudged it to the left of the main entrance and had her set it down. Now the place was brightly lit, and he almost regretted it.

There had to be a dozen corpses down here, maybe more.

"Why are they here?" he muttered. "Why did they bring them here?"

"To feed their young," Maya replied, and pointed. Across the room, he could see a clutch of about a dozen eggs. Seth felt his teeth begin to grind together and suddenly he marched halfway across the room, leveled the rifle at the eggs and cut loose. One energy clip later, they were nothing but a bunch of shredded gore. He looked back at Maya as he reloaded. She looked like she wanted to say something, but remained silent.

"We'll need to have someone pull death duty," he said, looking over the bodies again. "And we'll also need-"

He froze as his gaze fell on a familiar face. He didn't know the man's name, but he immediately recognized him as one of the survivors of Taris. Seth felt something twitch violently inside of him as he stared at the body.

"What's wrong?" Maya asked.

Seth didn't respond, simply kept staring. He had survived the horrors of Taris for years, or maybe even decades, survived the death of a planet and the harrowing escape, only to make it to what might have been paradise…

And then die to a new horror.

"One of the exiles," Seth said finally, finding his voice. He felt a tremendous anger boiling within him, but remembered what Maya said about needing to begin heading down the path of controlling his emotions, his rage, and fought hard to reign it in. "He made it all the way here just to die."

"I'm sorry, Seth," Maya said softly. "But-" She was cut off as they heard running footsteps. Seth tensed, whirling around and raising his rifle. Nova appeared.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Distress call. One of the farms. Treven Homestead," she said, looking at Maya.

"I know where that is," she said, and began hurrying back out the way they'd come. Seth joined her and soon all three of them were jogging back down the path.

"What kind of distress call?" he asked.

"Mandalorians," Nova replied grimly.

"How soon can we be there?" he asked Maya.

"Three minutes."

"Then let's go." He raised his voice as they came into the main chamber again. Nova and the other five soldiers had blocked up the first tunnel with big, silver crates and were in the process of doing it to the second. "We're responding to a distress call! Stay here and secure the area! Wait for further orders!" he called.

More affirmative replies and then they were out of there, up on the surface, mounting speeder bikes, and shooting off towards the danger.

* * *

They stopped a hundred meters short of the farmstead and began hurrying towards a natural rise in the land. Seth's anger was trembling around inside of him, humming and buzzing like an overcharged blaster waiting to go off. He honestly wasn't sure if he had the strength to not completely flip out and straight-up murder the first bastard he saw. But no...had to do this carefully, didn't want to blow up and kill an innocent.

He wasn't sure if he could live with that.

But he couldn't stop seeing the dead exile's face.

The three of them dismounted their speeders and hurried up the hill. Not too far away, Seth could hear someone shouting. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying to force his frayed nerves to settle down as he carefully finished crawling up the incline. The grass was about a foot tall and very good cover, so he and the others made it without being seen. Then, as he got out his rifle and hit the zoom feature, he felt his control slip another notch.

"Mandalorians indeed," he growled as he studied the scene before him.

There were six of the armored bastards standing around in front of the farmhouse, all of them completely covered in blue-and-red armor, all of them wielding blaster rifles. He also saw five people out in the yard as well, two of them children, all five of them knelt in obvious surrender. Well, this was already going poorly.

"Crap, all right...Nova, stay here and provide cover fire," he began whispering as he watched the scene play out through his scope, slowly zeroing his sights on the leader's head. He was sure the guy was the leader, the others were moving around, almost patrolling, creating a perimeter, while he was standing nonchalantly in front of the family, holding a pistol, no doubt saying something menacing to them. "Maya, I want you to work your way back down the hill and around to the back of the farmhouse, quick as you can, you'll be my backup."

"What are you going to do?" Maya replied uncertainly.

"I'll be the distraction," he replied, "just get their attention and-"

He cut off as the leader suddenly aimed the pistol and fired right through the skull of one of the adults, killing him in a heartbeat.

Control didn't just slip, it dissolved.

He squeezed the trigger without even thinking about it and the sniper shot he'd been charging crossed the distance between the muzzle of his rifle and the Mandalorian leader's armored cranium in a split second, punched right through the armor and knocked the life out of that sorry bastard. Seth screamed something incoherently as he surged to his feet and began sprinting down the hill. He had the vague idea of pulling the remaining Mandalorians' attention from the farmers and at least managed not to fire indiscriminately at the general lot of them as he sprinted down the incline as fast as he possibly could.

The world seemed to fall away around him.

The sunshine, the clouds, the floating gray things flapping slowly through the skies, the trees, the clean air…

It was filtered away, the color draining from the world, except for…

Red.

The Mandalorians were shouting, and returning fire. As Seth felt a few blaster bolts crash into his armor, he hit level ground, aimed and started firing. One of them went down from another concentrated sniper shot from somewhere behind him, and he thought he could hear Maya shouting after him. But he ignored all that. Right now there was only him and these four Mandalorian bastards and the family they were menacing. He had to eliminate the hostiles, rescue the hostages. Nothing else mattered. Another blaster shot crashed into his chestplate and he screamed in rage as he felt it burn. It just made him run faster, and his return fire cut through the air, slicing into the visor of another Mandalorian, shattering it and killing the man.

He wasn't entirely sure what happened after that.

He remembered actually reaching one of the Mandalorians as they fell back behind the cover afforded to them by their speeder bikes. He remembered smashing his armored fist into a helmet over and over again. He remembered hearing someone scream his name.

Then there was a burning line of pain being scrawled across his scalp.

And then the darkness was yet again embracing him.


	22. Chapter 22: Finding Peace

Seth opened his eyes. He was in a room, a vaguely familiar room, in a very dim light. He was lying in a bed, in a somewhat enclosed space, and someone was near him. He swallowed and found his mouth dry. For a few seconds, he simply laid there and breathed. His head hurt, but it was more of a headache than anything else. There was still some vague pain across the right side of his skull. Where was he?

Nova shifted and made a soft, unhappy sound beside him, and that finally made everything click home. He was on the ship, in their room, laying in their bed. Okay, so...he must have been knocked out during the battle. He didn't like that he didn't remember much of that battle. The last thing he clearly remembered was seeing the civilian go down, blood and pulverized brains flying out of his skull from the point-blank blaster shot.

That made a pulse of red anger shoot through him, but Seth pushed it down. He needed to find out what had happened, but he didn't want to wake Nova. Even looking at her in the dim light, (she must have left the lights on their lowest setting in consideration for him, not wanting him to potentially wake to total darkness), he saw that she looked exhausted. He knew how she felt. Part of him wanted to just roll over and go back to sleep, real sleep this time, not just unconsciousness, but he knew this was an unrealistic goal.

He was restless, and he knew that until he did something, he wasn't sure what, he would not be able to sleep. Luckily, Nova had put herself closest to the wall and pulled him up against him, draping his arm over her. He was very reluctant to leave the embrace, but he carefully pulled himself up and out from beneath the blankets. He wore nothing but his boxers. Seth slowly moved through the room, gathering up a shirt, some socks, cargo pants, and boots and slipping into the bathroom. Closing the door behind him, he turned on the light and caught sight of himself in the mirror. Well, he looked like crap even more than usual.

He was pale and gaunt and there were deep bags under his eyes. He winced when he saw that a burning groove had been cut right through his hair on the right side of his skull. There was no scar or even cut there, the flesh smooth, (Maya must have used Force heal on him and again he felt guilty), but the hair looked awful, made him look even more crazed and dangerous than he usually did. Have to take care of that sometime, but not now. Right now, he splashed some water on his face, dried it, then took a long leak.

After that, he dressed, killed lights, and slipped back out into the bedroom. Nova was still asleep, breathing softly and regularly. She really must be exhausted. Seth began to head for the door, then hesitated, seeing that he'd disturbed the blanket when he'd left. He moved over, studying her. Nova wore nothing but a pair of panties. He again felt that guilt. She must have been very worried over him, and probably pissed off at him. He was throwing a lot at her for a casual relationship, and part of him, a colder part, wanted to simply write it off, thinking that she should just leave him to his own devices and not care about him as much, he wasn't her responsibility. But he knew that was wrong, a cop out, and more than a little cruel.

Nova did care. Because they were more than a casual relationship at this point, they were comrades in arms, and friends, but more important than all of that was the simple fact that Nova cared because she was a good person. He had to stop doing stuff like this, for his friend's sake as much as his own.

He leaned down and gently kissed her forehead, then pulled the blanket over her. Still she didn't wake, but she did lose the frown on her face, looking a bit more content as she settled more comfortably into sleep. He left the room, opting to leave the light on because at some point he was going to come back and it would make more sense to have it stay consistently on, rather than to need to turn it back on since he was going to need to see when he made for the bed again. He closed the door and moved through the ship, into the central room. As he did, he saw Maya standing near the center of the room, holding a steaming mug of something.

He felt a distinct discomfort as he looked at her, and not entirely because of his history with Jedi, but because she was wearing a robe that was partially open at the chest and her hair was in disarray. He'd known from the first time he'd seen her that she was a very attractive person, but it was extremely highlighted right now and the sudden lust he felt towards her was immediately followed by more discomfort and a little shame. Not just because of his relationship with Nova, nor because of his complicated history with Jedi.

But also because…

Damn, he really had no idea why else right now. His emotions were a mess. With an effort, he controlled himself.

"Hello, Maya," he said quietly.

"Hello, Seth," she replied, her voice a touch cold and maybe angry. "I sensed you were awake. We need to talk. Sit down and wait here for me."

"I...okay," he replied. Part of him wanted to argue, but what right did he have right now? And it wasn't like he knew where he was going or what he was going to do anyway, only that he wasn't ready for sleep. So he tried not to watch her as she walked out of the room, instead moving over to the counter of the kitchen area and checking it out. He opened the fridge and saw what appeared to be green tea in a pitcher. Although he wasn't much for tea, he knew he didn't need to be drinking anything that might wake him up more, and it for some reason looked very inviting, so he grabbed it, poured himself a glass and then sat down with it on one of the couches.

Maya returned a moment later, her hair pulled into a ponytail, wearing a her Jedi robes. She sat down across from him as he drank the tea. It tasted good, and faintly sweet. "You like it?" she asked, nodding to the tea.

"Yeah, normally I don't, but it's good."

"You taste the sweetness?" He nodded. "Honey. I put honey in there, just a bit." She looked at him for a moment longer, then sighed and gently shook her head. "That was really damned stupid, Seth. I mean _really_ dumb. You could have died. You could have gotten someone killed."

"I know, I'm sorry," he replied.

That seemed to take her vaguely by surprise, and her posture slumped slightly, like she'd been expecting a fight. Well, why not? He'd been fairly uncooperative so far. "Well," she said finally, "I'm glad you at least recognize the mistake." She hesitated, then sighed. "I'm sorry, that was rude. Today was...a stressful day."

"What happened? After I, uh, took the hit?" he replied.

"We all got lucky...for the most part. I guess one of us didn't," Maya murmured. "Nova and I managed to kill the remaining Mandalorians, and they apparently didn't call for backup. The one who they killed was a traveler the family had hired to help them out on the farm, so I suppose there is at least that small comfort that the family remains intact. At least physically. I healed you with the Force, then I called for assistance. Another pair of security personnel drove out from the colony with a bigger vehicle and took all of us back. The family is staying there for now and some of the security personnel are staking out the family farm, waiting to see if anymore of the Mandalorians come to cause trouble." She sighed and shook her head. "We're stretched badly thin now, with the setback at the turbine and the dead personnel.

"I've put in a request with the Jedi Enclave and let them know the severity of the situation, asking for additional personnel, security mainly, but more technical staff as well. They're doing what they can and they hope to have another shipment of people out here as temporarily relief in two days while they try to scrounge up some more colonists and permanent residents. Um...so, after we got you back, I'd stabilized you with the Force, but Seri insisted on taking a look at you. Once she was sure you were okay, although she demanded we let you get some sleep and briefly got into a little tiff with Nova on where you would sleep, she wanted to keep you at the clinic, Nova won and we brought you back here, to, uh, her room."

"How are the others doing? Seri and Yex?" he asked.

"Seri's still at the medical complex. She really needs to get some rest but she keeps pushing herself. I sense great turmoil in her...and, ah, Yex is at the turbine, last I checked. He agreed to sleep out there tonight with his pair of technical staff to help get it up and running again. Also, we discovered a datapad on the leader you killed, and Yex is trying to crack it, see if he can get some more information on what they're doing here, where they are, some advantage we can use to remove them from the equation."

"That would be ideal," Seth muttered.

Silence descended, and Maya fixed him with an intense stare. Abruptly, she stood up. "Come with me. We need to have words, and they're better exchanged outside, I think."

"Uh...okay," he replied. Seth downed the rest of his tea and put the glass in the sink, then followed her out of the ship that he now called home.

It was night on Dantooine, although it was not as dark as he thought it would be. The moon was full, and it and the stars, as well as lights from the colony, provided a decent amount of pale luminescence with which to see by. The pair of them walked slowly along the landing pads. Although it had been a bit hot today, tonight it was pleasantly cool. They walked until they reached the edge of the farthest landing pad and looked out over the landscape. It wasn't nearly as visible at night, but Seth could see enough to appreciate it.

"Look," Maya said quietly, "up there."

Seth looked up. A small pod of the flying gray creatures was heading to the east, silently drifting across the skies. "I saw them earlier. What are they?"

Maya laughed softly. "I have a friend here, a younger Jedi Padawan. Her name is Juhani. When she first arrived here and she saw them, she called them the Majestic Flap Flaps."

Seth couldn't help but laugh softly. "Is that what they are to you?"

"I suppose, in a way," Maya replied. "We call them sky rays. No one knows how they stay up there yet. A recent theory is that they somehow use the Force." She lost her smile.

"What is it?"

"Just...my friend, Juhani, has had a long, difficult journey, especially since coming here. She is like you, Seth: she has a lot of trouble controlling her anger. To be fair, she is at a biological disadvantage, compared to some. She is cathar."

"Oh wow," he murmured, "that must be tough. I've fought alongside a few cathar. Great warriors, not always excellent soldiers. They're..."

"Prone to anger. Their brain chemistry is indeed wired a certain way to reward anger and passion. But that is why I brought you out here, Seth. We must begin, soon, to seriously discuss some method of curbing your anger, because you _need_ to get it under control. You got lucky, this time. Next time, you might get killed, or worse, get someone you like killed."

"I know," he muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. "I just...seeing that exile below the turbine, and then those bastards killing that innocent..." He grit his teeth.

"I understand," Maya said quietly. "Believe me, I do. But another thing I understood a long time ago was that you can save more people by _not_ freaking out. Being in control almost always saves more lives. If we hadn't been there to back you up, you'd be dead, Seth," she said flatly, staring at him now. "That's how you got shot. I barely managed to shove the guy aside with the Force, and even then his shot grazed you. Another inch to the left and you'd probably be dead."

Seth just nodded, not quite meeting her gaze. "Yeah," he said softly.

"Seth..." she said, and she reached up, placing a finger under his chin and making him meet her gaze again, slowly but firmly raising his head up, "...do you care if you live or die?"

He shivered slightly at the contact and swallowed. Her skin was warm and soft. He didn't know what to make of what he was feeling right now. "I don't know," he answered honestly.

She dropped her hand and frowned, staring at him harder now, scrutinizing him unflinchingly with those stormy gray eyes of hers. "I think you should figure that out," she said finally. "It's important that you know."

"I suppose it is. I've gone a long time on auto-pilot, I guess, fighting the Mandalorians, then fighting the Sith. Getting shuffled from one battlefield to the next on one anonymous Republic warship to the next, like a card being shuffled through a damned Pazaak deck."

"I know it can be dehumanizing," Maya said quietly, "and I'm sorry. This war...these _wars,_ they've taken their toll on us all. Unfortunately, all we can do is keep going."

"Yeah, I guess so."

They stood together for a few more seconds, then Maya yawned suddenly. "We should get back to sleep," she said. "But tomorrow I want to take the opportunity to begin speaking at a bit more length with you about getting your anger under control."

"All right," he agreed, "we can do it after breakfast."

"Thank you, Seth."

They began walking back to the ship, and as they reached the cargo ramp, Seth hesitated, looking out over the colony. Most of the buildings were dark, but the administration building had a few lights on, and so did the clinic.

"I'm going to go see Seri," he said.

"You probably should, see if you can convince her to get some sleep. I'm worried about her," Maya replied, joining him in looking at the clinic.

"Me too. I'll see what I can do. Goodnight, Maya."

"Goodnight, Seth."

He set off towards the clinic.

* * *

He got lucky and found Seri in a small break room close to the main lobby of the clinic. She had fallen asleep in a chair, but immediately woke up when he stepped into the room. It was harder to tell, given that he wasn't as familiar with selkath, but she did looked exhausted from what he could see. She blinked several times, then fully woke up and stood.

"Seth! You're awake. Are you okay? Are you in pain?" she asked, crossing the room and studying his head wound.

"Seri," he replied, "I'm fine. Thank you for looking after me. Um...what are you up?"

She sighed and then crossed to a small refrigerator. Opening it up, she pulled out a bottle of water and drank half of it in one go. "Just trying to help them keep this place afloat."

"You've been busy since you got here, are there that many injured people?"

"No," she replied, "it's not that. I mean, that's some of it, but mainly it's just clerical stuff. They're so disorganized. I'm in the process of overhauling their inventory system, because whoever was here before me, they lost a doctor to a better paying job offworld apparently, was just garbage at it. So that's what I've mainly been doing. That and making sure their database is up to snuff with all the latest information and trying to get requisitions filled out based on what I think they might need, problems they might run into, arguing with vendors about getting it shipped out here, on time, and for a reasonable cost..." She heaved a watery sigh.

"Seri...take a break. Come back to the ship with me," he said.

She hesitated, fidgeting nervously. "I don't know...there's still so much to do."

"Seri, please? For me? You need a break," he said, a little more firmly.

She sighed and nodded, then drained the rest of the bottle and tossed it away. "Yes, I do," she admitted. "I really do. Okay."

"Thank you."

She signed out and fussed over a terminal for a moment before finally accompanying him into the cool night air. "Oh my, it's beautiful out here," she whispered as they started walking back up to the landing pads.

"It is..." he hesitated, then pressed onward. "Seri. We haven't had much of a chance to speak since we got here. How are you doing? How are you handling everything?"

"I'm okay, just keeping busy," she replied automatically.

"Seri," he said, "please. You can tell me the truth."

She was silent for several moments. By the time she began speaking again, they were walking up the cargo ramp, into the vessel.

"I never told you how I came to live in the Undercity," she said. "I was born on Taris. My parents weren't in poverty, not for awhile, at least, but we could never be confused for rich." They came into the central room and sat down together on a couch. "Even at a young age I showed a great intelligence and aptitude. My parents scrounged and saved every credit they could, both of them working two jobs. I learned to be very self-sufficient early on, learned to take care of myself. When I finally did graduate from what passed for school on Taris in the Lower City, my parents had managed to put together enough credits to get me off-world, and into a rather prestigious medical school. I honestly think they took me for a few reasons.

"The first was part of some kind of outreach program to make them look good, I was both a selkath and from a poor family, and because when I took their test, I scored off the charts. We worked out tuition and I got some special grants and loans covered the rest. I shot through medical school, but hardly before I'd finished celebrated graduating six years later, I learned that my mother was gravely ill and hastily returned. She was so frustrated with me when I chose to stay and take a job at a local clinic, a very low-paying job, because she said I was wasting my potential. I told her I could get a better job later, after I'd helped take care of her."

She hesitated and looked away. He had an idea that she was trying not to cry. "I failed. Or rather, I supposed, I was destined to fail. My mother's sickness was fatal, and she died within a year. My father died six months after that. He just kind of...gave up, wasted away. I've often heard that women survive their men...men do not survive their women. It's mostly true. Go to any graveyard, find male-female couples that are buried next to each other. More often than not, the woman's death date is years after the man's." She sighed and shook her head, then, after a moment, reached out and took Seth's hand. He let her, holding her hand, laying his other one atop it. He remained silent, listening to her. This was the most he'd ever heard her talk about herself.

"Not long after they died, I was thinking about what I was going to do. I knew I wanted to leave Taris. I hated that place. But before I could, some Exchange thugs showed up and informed me that my parents were in debt to them. I never learned the specifics, and I still shudder to consider the notion that they went into debt with the Exchange to send me to school, but...no, I still believe that it was a more recently acquired debt, likely done out of desperation to get my mother better treatment. The Exchange wouldn't wait around that long to collect. But as far as they were concerned, I had inherited my parent's debt. I tried to pay them off, but I didn't have enough. They decided that they were going to take me and sell me as a slave.

"I'd learned more than a thing or two about defending myself, growing up on Taris, so I fought them and then ran. I fled to the Undercity and I found the exiles. I wanted to help them, but really I needed a place to hide, to regroup..."

She stopped speaking abruptly and began to cry softly. Seth felt a tremendous empathy rip at his heart at the sight. She turned and hugged him fiercely and he hugged her back, holding her as she cried into his chest. He felt tears at his own eyes. It was hard not to cry around someone else who was crying, but he hated most of what she had told him, hated that she had to endure this. She was such a good person, she just wanted to help people, she didn't deserve any of this. And so he sat there and held her while she cried for a long time.

He had the idea that she was crying not just for what had happened recently, but maybe for what had happened over the past however long of her life, since her parents had died. Maybe longer. There was a lot to cry about nowadays.

When she was finished, she stayed in his embrace for a few more minutes, then slowly disengaged herself from him. "I'm sorry," she murmured, looking at his shirt, which was very wet now. "I really cried a lot."

She sounded a lot calmer now. "Don't be sorry. I'm not. You needed that," he replied.

She smiled slightly. "I guess I did. I feel a lot better now. Well...a lot less bad. Empty of sadness and anger and despair...I think there might be room for happiness again." She gave him a brief kiss on the mouth suddenly. "Thank you so much for that. I really, really needed that." She yawned. "I need to sleep. Goodnight, Seth. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Goodnight, Seri," he replied. She got up and left. He watched her go, wondering how to interpret that little kiss.

Finally, he decided not to over-complicate things, and that he was exhausted, and needed to get some sleep himself. He walked back to the cargo ramp and raised it up for the night, locking it into place. If Yex showed up, he knew how to activate it. He then walked to the bridge and double-checked the security systems, then made his way back to his and Nova's room. He stripped down, made sure he had a clear path from the door to the bed, then turned out the lights all the way. Carefully, he made his way in the darkness to the bed.

As he got back beneath the blankets and settled in to sleep, Nova came awake. "Seth?" she whispered. "Are you okay?"

"I'm okay, Nova," he replied. "I'm fine. Everything's okay."

She let out a sigh of relief. "Okay, good. I just...I was so worried..."

"I'm sorry for today, for being reckless, for making you worry," he replied.

She yawned. "It got the job done, I guess...but for the record, don't do that again or I'm going kick you in the shins."

He laughed softly. "Understood."

"What time is it?"

He checked the chronometer mounted on the wall, a faint glow in the darkness. "It's just past two in the morning."

"Okay, good. Lots more time to sleep."

She rolled over and he pressed himself against her warm, soft body. Wrapping his arm around her, he held her close to him and quickly fell asleep.


	23. Chapter 23: The First Step

When Seth woke up the next morning, he felt...calmer.

Not exactly at peace, but calmer than he had been in awhile. For a few minutes, he laid there, staring up into darkness, wondering about that. Maybe it was because he'd killed those Mandalorians and risked his life in a way that was strangely satisfying: he'd done something dangerous and risky, and he'd _almost_ gotten killed, but had managed to come away still functional, and he'd saved a few lives in the process.

It was kind of a win-win all around, (except for the Mandalorians), and it came with that satisfaction he sometimes felt after feeling like he had actually earned his victory. He'd gotten hurt, what could have been a fatal wound, but he'd come out the other side victorious. Maybe, he thought suddenly, that was a problem. But risking his life was part of his job, part of his life. Shouldn't he enjoy it? Well, maybe not.

Seth thought about Maya's question, about if he cared whether or not he died. Did he? He still couldn't be sure. Right now, right here, laying in a comfortable bed next to a beautiful woman who, while he didn't love and knew didn't love him, he at least knew that they cared for each other a lot, he sure didn't feel like dying. But he could feel the core, the dark heart of his pain, of years of suffering, mental anguish, poverty, desperate loneliness, staggering rage, abuse, neglect, and a handful of truly awful experiences that still gave him nightmares, somewhere inside of him. It was numb for now, but it was still there.

Would it ever go away?

If he could, he would surgically remove it.

But you couldn't cut away spiritual suffering, you couldn't remove the emotional scar tissue of tragedy. Maybe that's what he was trying to do with all his reckless endangerment. Nova shifted beside him and came awake.

"Hey," she murmured when he wrapped an arm around her.

"Hello," he replied happily. "You want to, uh..."

She snorted. "Duh."

* * *

Seth and Nova headed out into the main galley. He was feeling even better, relaxed after morning activities and a shower. He'd even settled on what he wanted to do with his hair, since even he, who had mostly totally abandoned any sense of appearance beyond basic hygiene, thought the missing line of hair was a little distracting. He ended up grabbing an electric razor and buzzing the sides of his skull, then having Nova help get the back, leaving just the top of his head covered in his short, dark hair. It looked...different, but he kind of liked it.

Nova really seemed to like it.

Seri and Maya were sitting in the galley across from each other, talking quietly. They both looked over as the pair entered and made for the food area.

"You're awake, excellent," Maya said. "I intend to initiate your training today."

"What training?" Nova asked.

"Uh...Maya's going to try and help me get my anger under control," Seth replied.

"I see," Nova murmured.

Seth wondered suddenly if this was going to be a problem. He saw what must be unhappy emotions playing across Nova's face as she looked briefly at Maya, then returned her attention to the refrigerator. Then she suddenly seemed to realize something, smiled briefly, then continued hunting through the food. He wanted to ask her what was going through her mind, but whatever it was, it probably wasn't something she felt like talking about in front of other people. Speaking of other people…

"Seri, how are you doing?" he asked.

"I'm feeling a lot better," Seri replied. "Thank you for the talk last night."

"You're welcome," he replied.

"I'm glad you're feeling better, Seri. You really work yourself too hard," Nova said as she began pulling out some eggs and bacon.

"I know...I'm trying to, uh, cope better. I'm trying not to skip meals or sleep. In a way, I feel a little guilty. This place is so wonderful, a place of healing, I can feel it, and here I am, buried in my own misery..." She sighed heavily and sat back in her chair. "But I am doing better. I guess I'm just trying to remember what it feels like to be happy. I spent a long time being unhappy on Taris."

"A lot of us did," Nova murmured. "I'm so glad we made it here."

Seth ended up cooking for both of them, frying up some bacon and over-easy eggs. When he'd made the food, he and Nova sat down next to each other on one of the couches and began eating. "Is there anything that needs our attention today?" Nova asked.

"I'm not sure. Not yet at least," Maya replied. "Yex is still figuring out the datapad that was found. So far there haven't been any other reports of attacks."

"Okay, perfect. In that case, I'm going to take the opportunity to do a thorough investigation of the ship and take a good, long look at our armory," Nova said.

"I should help after I'm done with Maya," Seth added, realizing that he'd been neglecting that particular duty. But he'd been so damned busy since coming here, it felt like he hadn't really had a spare moment since then.

They finished eating up and as soon as he was done, Maya stood. "Come on, Seth. I wish to begin sooner rather than later, while we have time."

"Okay. Uh...I'll be back later," he said, glancing at Nova.

"Good luck," she replied, and he wasn't entirely sure if she was being sarcastic or not. He had an idea that she wasn't actually sure either, probably because on the one hand, she seemed to have some disdain for Maya, and maybe she found the prospect of any help Maya could offer him dubious at best, but then maybe she also realized that he was at least taking this seriously enough that he was doing it, and that by seeking help, he actually admitted to having anger issues, and she wanted to encourage him getting help. Or maybe he was reading too much into it.

He did that sometimes.

Either way, he followed Maya off of the ship and into the sunshine. It was a bright but cool day, that perfect temperature where it wasn't too hot but had yet to dip into long-sleeve territory. He wondered what the seasons were like on Dantooine.

"Come along. I've found a place for us to do this. Somewhere isolated," Maya said.

"Okay," he replied, following her off the landing pad and down towards a small lake in the distance. He was honestly curious about what this would entail. And he could feel that old, irrational anxiety bubbling inside of his guts as he knew that he was headed to an isolated location with a Jedi. It was stupid. He honestly did not believe that Maya would hurt him or try to trick or deceive him in any way. He genuinely trusted her, or at least as much as he could trust someone nowadays, and yet...the fear remained.

He tried to put it aside. They exchanged no words as they walked across the grassy plains. He tried to distract himself by tracking the progress of the sky rays as they sailed by majestically overhead. It was stupid, how anxious this was making him. He was a freaking grown man, a twelve year veteran who'd fought in over a hundred battles, and he was having difficulties taking a walk across a field with a Jedi.

Finally, they reached the place she wanted to take him, which was actually a slightly secluded little grove at the edge of the lake where flowers grew. It was edged by a rock wall to the back, trees to either side, and the lake itself at its front.

"The first step," Maya said as they stood facing each other, the lake to their side, "is to focus. Close your eyes." He did, feeling his anxiety take another step up. "Take a deep breath. Hold it. Release it slowly."

He did, trying to focus, trying to push away his anxiety. He at least succeeded in arresting it, so that it wouldn't get any worse.

"Open your eyes, Seth."

He did, finding himself looking at her. She peered back at him with her gray eyes. He saw compassion there, and empathy. None of the self-assured haughtiness or arrogance he'd come to associate with several Jedi he'd worked with. So many of them thought themselves superior to all non-Jedi.

"Now, we are going to focus, and we are going to try to release some of your tension."

"Is this going to be like, uh...therapy?" he asked.

"Sort of," she replied, and she held up her hand between them, palm flat, facing up. Suddenly, a very light, thin ball of blue energy appeared.

"What's that?" he whispered. "The Force?"

"This," she said deliberately, "is your confusion."

"What?"

She laughed softly. "It's representative, Seth. Please pay attention."

"Okay."

"This represents your confusion towards Seri. You don't know how to feel about her. You know you like her, and you respect her, and you consider her your friend. But you don't know if there's something more between you."

"How-"

"I'm very empathic. I read people well. If you are concerned that I used the Force to peek into your mind, please believe me when I say that I did not. I simply read people well, and I do sort of...overhear certain things. Not thoughts, per say, but emotions. I wasn't eavesdropping, it just comes to me. Don't worry, I'm not going to say anything. But this is bothering you. Not much, but enough that we need to set it aside."

He sighed softly. "Okay...what do I do?"

"Blow it out, like a candle," she said.

He let out a huff of air. The wisp of blue energy dissolved immediately, and he thought he felt something shift...like a muscle relaxing in his head. But it was so faint that he couldn't be sure whether or not it was his imagination.

"Very good," Maya said. She focused, and this time another ball of energy appeared. This one was less transparent, and colored bright pink. "This is your lust and your passion for Nova. Again, don't worry, I'm not going to judge. Believe it or not, Seth, not _all_ Jedi frown on sex for pleasure or casual encounters. And again, no, I didn't peek...I didn't even overhear your emotions. I didn't have to. Your relationship with Nova is obvious to anyone who cares to look, and...well, I _did_ overhear something else. Nova is rather...vocal."

He sighed more heavily this time and glanced away, frustrated that he was actually blushing. "I...yeah," he muttered, shifting uncomfortable. "Sorry."

"It's fine, Seth. Blow it away. You need to let it go for now."

He refocused and blew again, a little harder this time, and the pink energy lingered for a few seconds, dissolving slowly like blood in the water before fully disappearing. This time, there was no mistaking it: he felt something. Again that sensation of relaxation, of peace, serenity. "Are you...doing something to me? With the Force? What's going on?" he asked.

"No, Seth. I'm not doing anything to you but talking with you," Maya replied. "The only Force I'm using is for the little visual display here. That's you. You are making a conscious decision to set aside your feelings for the moment. And don't worry, they aren't going anywhere. This isn't making you care less about Nova or anyone else. You are simply setting aside your emotions for now. To repair some wounds, doctors apply a local anesthesia to the affected area, so that they can work without harming you. In a way, this is like that. We're anesthetizing your emotions so that we can begin to assess the damage to your mind, and figure out how to repair it."

"I..." He hesitated.

"Do you trust me? You need to trust me for this to work."

"I _do_ trust you," he murmured. "It's just..."

"Yes?"

"Nothing. I trust you. Let's keep going."

"Very well."

A new ball of energy appeared, hovering a few inches above her palm. This one was much more solid and dense, and it was an angry, malevolent red. It was pulsing gently. "This is your anger. Your fury. Your hatred. This is your outrage at a galaxy that does not care. Your disgust with cruelty, indifference, racism, sexism, classism."

"I'm not wrong to hate those things," he said, his voice low.

"No, you aren't," Maya agreed. "But you cannot let your anger, your hate, control you. Seth, one of the first things we are taught in the Jedi Order is to control our emotions. Something I have come to realize is that emotions are tools. Anger can be a fuel. Anger can be used to motivate you to do good. But if you allow too much of it into your life, you allow it too much control. Not to sound cliched, but...this leads to the Dark Side. More functionally, for non-Jedi, it leads to ugly, unnecessary confrontations. It leads to fights. It leads to abuse. It leads to spouses hurting each other, parents hurting their children. It can also lead to indifference, to burnout. Perhaps worst of all, it can lead to sadism, to cruelty. Intentionally harming others.

"That, I think, is one of the cruelest seductions of the Dark Side: when your mind has become so warped that you draw pleasure from the giving of pain. Physical pain, emotional pain, psychological pain. One of the darkest, most dangerous aspects of this is if you think it can't happen to you. If you tell yourself that you could never imagine being so cruel, you could never imagine yourself seeking to cause pain to innocents, to whoever may cross your path while you are in a bad mood...you are wrong. It _can_ happen to you. It can happen to anyone. Not every Dark Jedi has shared these thoughts...but most have. So set your anger aside, Seth. You must do this intentionally," she said.

He nodded and blew at the ball of energy. It shifted, but then went back into its place. He blew again, harder. It took close to half a minute before it finally dissolved. "That was harder," he murmured softly.

"Yes, that's because your anger has been with you for so long. It's the foundation upon which you built your life."

"It's my biggest problem," he murmured.

"No," Maya said, and he refocused on her, "it is _not_ your biggest problem, Seth. If anger is your foundation, then this next problem is the earth on which it is built." In her hand, which had yet to lower, something new appeared.

This energy was black and trembling. It was solid. It looked like it had weight.

"What-what is this?" he whispered, immediately hating the sight of it.

"This...is your fear, Seth. Your fear of failure. Your fear of judgment. Your fear of me, and my kind. This is your anxiety, your terror. Your nightmares. This is your core. This is the heart of darkness, buried deep behind the trenches of your anger. When you see someone else suffering because of you, and you get that gut-punch feeling, that comes from here. There are other things here, but I cannot sense them properly."

"You don't know why I fear you, do you?" he whispered.

"No. I cannot see it clearly. I would never, without your permission, dive into your mind. When, and if, you are ready to tell me, I will be waiting to hear why."

He stared at the ball of black energy. It seemed to consume his whole world. "Try to release it, Seth," Maya said softly.

He tried for nearly five minutes. The effort left him breathless, and he failed. That thing might as well have been attached to its position with industrial-strength tension wires welded to steel girders that were buried sixty feet down into the bedrock.

"I can't do it," he groaned.

"It's okay," Maya replied, and it disappeared. Some of the tension and anxiety went out of him. "This was just the first session, Seth. That you were able to get to the deepest part, the root of your problems, is quite the accomplishment."

"What should I do?" he murmured. "Are these all problems?"

"No. The first two certainly aren't. Your situation with Seri...you'll figure it out. As I said, it was just barely distracting enough to have to be set aside. Your passion and lust for Nova...just keep an eye on it. Make sure it doesn't get out of control." She smiled suddenly. "I doubt Nova would let it. She is a very...powerful woman."

"Yeah, she is," he agreed.

"You are drawn to powerful women."

"I guess I am."

"Well, as odd as it may seem coming from me, I think that's a good thing. Now, your anger. That is a problem. Your fear, that is a worse problem. If you are to succeed in becoming a healthier person, these need to be addressed and laid to rest. But there are two things I _must_ impress upon you about this process, okay?" she asked, staring hard at him now.

"What are they?" he asked.

"The first: this will take effort and time. This will take years of consistent effort. The second: Your anger, your fear, your negative emotions, the end goal is not to eliminate negative emotions, Seth. That is impossible. The end goal is to manage your emotions. You will _always_ feel anger in your life. Yes, through effort and consistent hard work, the amount of anger you feel _will_ lessen, but it will never disappear. Your goal is not to eliminate anger, but to learn how to deal with it when it does arrive. This is a mistake many people make. This is a reality you must learn to live with."

Seth had to admit, he didn't want to hear that. There were times were he thought that if there was some way to just cut anger and frustration out of his mind completely, he would take it in a heartbeat. But Maya was right, about anger being fuel. How often had he used his fury to get through a particularly brutal situation? And she was right about the other thing, too. He'd reached his tipping point on Taris. Not for the first time in his life, but perhaps the most intense time. He could have killed an innocent during that blackout.

"Okay," he said finally.

"Good." She seemed to relax. "That's most of this first session. I want to show you a few more practical pieces of advice, meditation techniques, tension-release exercises, mental exercises. However, before we get to that, I have a question for you. I don't want you to answer it, not yet. I want you to think about this question. Answer it...when we are preparing to leave Dantooine. The question is: Why do you do what you do?"

He frowned, thinking about it for a moment. It seemed like a surface question, a simple question, and yet...he knew it had depths to it, like a puddle that looked a few inches deep but was actually two feet down.

"I'll think about," he replied.

"Good! Now, the meditation technique..."

* * *

They were at the grove for another half hour. He tried to keep an open mind about what she was showing him, because he'd blown off a lot of this stuff throughout his life. Now, though? He didn't know if it was his experiences on Taris, or the new friendships he'd been forging lately, or maybe even Dantooine itself, but he knew that things were changing inside of him. Or, at the very least, his internal stage was now set for the possibility of change. And he knew that it was crucially important that he act on that, that he intentionally try to change for the better. Because he had seen those like him before, those who had never tried to set aside the anger, who had never actually faced themselves, their emotions, their problems.

He had seen the burned-out, middle-aged, bitter shells of people who seemed to exist simply to continue their own existence. Who seemed to welcome death with tired eyes and open arms. Who seemed to have nothing at all left to live for. Who seemed incapable of happiness or joy or, perhaps most horrifying of all, of progress.

What must it feel like to truly live a life without hope of any kind?

He thought that he had been there more than once, but knew it wasn't true. He still had hope. Even if sometimes it was a distant, dying spark, it had never gone out. It was still there. And only now was Seth beginning to truly grasp how precious, how absolutely _vital_ that spark was to maintain. Because to live without it…

Wasn't to live at all.

It was to die without death.

And that might be the most terrifying thing of all.

When they were finished, they began walking back to the ship, and he actually did feel a lot better. A lot closer to peace. Calmer, happier even. Something was bugging him though. "Maya..." he said as they walked back.

"Yes?"

"Do you really not care about the fact that I'm in a casual sexual relationship with Nova?"

"No, I don't. I don't look down on either of you. I myself..." she hesitated, "perhaps I shouldn't tell you, but if I expect you to share some of your darkest secrets with me, I suppose I should trust you with a few secrets of my own. I have not always been a perfect paragon of Jedi serenity, Seth. I've...had casual sexual encounters before."

"Seriously?! You?"

"Yes. Me. It has been awhile, but...yes."

"And that doesn't...I mean, mess you up?"

"No. Believe it or not, Seth, some of us do know how to parse out the difference between a passionate tryst that may lead to jealousy, anger, love, betrayal...and just a bit of fun. Sex feels good. And it's good exercise. And it's a good emotional release, if you're with the right person. Someone who respects you, who understands that nothing more serious will grow out of the encounter."

"Do you think those days are behind you?" Seth asked after a few seconds.

"I don't know, honestly," she replied after a few moments of thought.

He didn't know how to respond to that, and didn't say anything, because he was already thinking about asking her to sleep with him. He didn't know if it would be a good idea, in fact he thought it might be a bad idea, for more than one reason, but lust was _powerful_. And Maya was actually one of the most attractive women he'd ever seen. Seth wondered if she could feel that lust right now and that made him panic a little.

He suddenly struck upon an idea and ran with it.

In his mind, Seth imagined a ball of pink energy. He imagined blowing it out, like a candle. The ball disappeared, and...he felt better. More in control. The lust was still there, but it was on the retreat. If Maya sensed any of this inner turmoil, she said nothing. Although damn, if she was down for it, he _really_ wanted to have a go at sex with Nova to fully clear his head.

They made it back to the ship.

"Do you feel better?" Maya asked as they walked up the ramp.

"I do," he replied. "But, uh, I should probably go find Nova and, uh, help her with the manifest and inventory."

"Help her," Maya said, smiling a small smile, "with the inventory? I'm sure she could use...help, with that. Well, in that case, I still have some responsibilities of my own to tend to in the colony. I'll radio you if anything comes up."

"Thanks," Seth replied, and hardly waited for her to head back down the cargo ramp before hurrying off through the ship to find Nova. He managed to track her down a moment later on the bridge, looking at a screen.

"Nova," he said, and the urgency in his voice made her look over.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Are you free for, um...could we...sex?" he asked.

She laughed loudly. "Wow you get _stupid_ when you're horny."

"Yep," he agreed.

"Lucky for you, I'm pretty much always down for a good lay. Come on."

* * *

"Was this about Maya?" Nova asked.

"What?" he replied, startled. They were in the shower together, washing off.

"You went out with Maya for an hour, then you came back absolutely _desperate_ for sex. Did she turn you on?" He hesitated, wondering how to proceed with this. "It's okay if the answer is yes, Seth. I'm not setting you up or anything. She _is_ insanely hot."

"Yeah," he admitted, "it kind of was. I mean, I wasn't like, pretending you were her or anything. I _am_ attracted to you, Nova-"

She sighed. "I know, Seth. I'm not some insecure-" She stopped, then sighed again, more softly. "That's not fair. I did lead you to believe I was a little jealous of her. But no, I don't mind. As I said, she is _really_ hot. Actually...you think she'd be down for a threesome?"

"She's a Jedi."

"That wasn't an answer."

"I mean..." He almost told her about what Maya had said to him, but that would be a betrayal, even if she hadn't explicitly told him not to. But she shouldn't have to. If Maya wanted to share that with anyone else, she would, not him. "I don't know," he answered honestly. "I doubt it, but I don't know. I mean...would you? With her?"

"Oh yes. In a heartbeat," Nova replied. "I love girls just as much as boys. Would you?"

"I mean, yeah," he said, "well...I don't know. Okay, it's like this: Yes, I would. I don't know if it would be a good or a bad idea."

"Well, if it'd help, I'd love to have a threesome with her and you."

"That...makes me really happy. But again, I doubt she'll actually do anything with us. She's a Jedi," he said.

"I suppose so. Oh well. So, now that we've gotten that out of our systems...for now...maybe we should actually get to work."

"Yes," he agreed. "We really should."

They finished washing up, dried off, and got dressed again, then headed for the armory. Or what was supposed to be the armory, anyway. The room was decently sized, considering the size of the ship, but it was pretty barren and would need some maintenance. They spent the next hour checking over the room, working together in companionable silence, occasionally picking up a conversation. He found a good-sized workbench where he could easily see himself losing a lot of hours repairing, modifying, or maintaining armor or weapons. There were a quartet of gun lockers along one wall, some shelves, a few armor lockers, and a number of places to store grenades, ammunition, spare parts, swords, and all the other things that armories stored.

When they were finished with their search, they spent another hour sitting in the main area together with a datapad, first putting together a list of things that needed to be done to the room to bring it back up to mil-spec, then making a list of all the things they thought they would need to fill it out with weapons, armor, and other spare supplies.

They had just finished up when Yex and Maya came to the ship.

"Hey, what's happening?" Seth asked as they walked into the room.

" _I have decoded the Mandalorian datapad that was recovered. It reveals their intentions and the location of their operations,_ " Yex replied.

Seth and Nova sat up a bit straighter. "Where are they?" she asked firmly.

"Their encampment is situated in a forest about twenty minutes from the colony via speeder. They were here originally to cause trouble for the locals, who they saw as pushovers. However, just recently, they discovered signs of a very dangerous creature, and they wanted to hunt it. They have it marked on the map, the most likely place it is to be. I think it's a terentatek. I think we should go there and see if we can kill two birds with one stone," Maya explained.

"Fine by me," Seth said, getting to his feet. "Let's suit up and get out there."


	24. Chapter 24: Clash

They decided to keep it simple.

Seth, Nova, and Maya were the only ones that were going to ride out, though Seri and Yex would alert the local forces to prepare in case they failed.

"Do you really think we can handle this?" Nova asked.

Seth thought about it. Honestly, he'd been thinking about it the whole way over. They were sitting just inside of the forest Maya said the Mandalorians were gathered in. He was anxious and worried. They were three solid fighters, and Maya was a damned Jedi. And no rookie either. Clearly, she was very powerful in the Force.

Maybe now they were going to find out just how powerful.

But he was worried about Nova, and Maya. What if something happened to them? What if he did something stupid again?

He needed to focus.

He imagined the ball of red energy in his mind. It pulsed and sizzled. He could see it clearly in his mind's eye. It let off a crimson mist and tendrils of it spread out.

"Seth?"

He focused.

"Are you listening?"

He imagined blowing it out.

"Yes," he said, feeling a bit of his tension drain away. "Sorry. Focusing. I'm not sure, but we've got to at least scope the situation out."

"Yes," Maya said. "I can sense them nearby...there are a lot of them. But I think we can handle this. If we play our cards right, perhaps we can shadow them until they locate the terentatek. They'll assault it and it will kill a lot of them. Then we strike."

"You're okay with just murdering them all?" Seth asked.

She sighed. "I wish it wasn't this way, but...these Mandalorians have proven they desire nothing more than suffering and gain at any cost."

"You really think the terentatek will rip into them that bad?" Nova asked, focusing them both on the situation at hand.

"Mandalorians are often rash and violent and angry. The terentatek is far more violent and angry. At worst, we can strike when they are distracted. But we should go now."

"We should," Seth agreed.

They left the pair of speeders they'd ridden out there in a small clearing. He and Nova moved quickly and quietly through the dense foliage of the Dantooine forest, but Maya was like a ghost. He couldn't hear her at all, and she barely pinged his peripheral awareness. That was creepy, and he was deeply glad that she was on his side. Although he'd be lying if he said he wasn't scared of her. As they made their way through the forest, Seth began to hear sounds. He listened closely. At first, they were fairly indistinct, no more specific than the fact that a living sentient was probably making them. Then they began to resolve.

He heard voices. Shouting, laughter, the occasional sharp command or retort. Mandalorians. They were crashing through the underbrush, not doing much to be silent. Probably intentional. This beast they were hunting would more than likely be drawn in by the noise. He tried to calm the rising tension and fear he felt within himself. Fighting Mandalorians was bad enough, but he also had to fight a damned terentatek?

He didn't even know what one looked like.

They pressed on through the forest and got close enough that they could make out individual phrases before Seth felt the first tremor. All three of them froze at the same time. One of the Mandalorians up ahead shouted for everyone to get ready.

Another tremor shook the area around them.

"Maya," he whispered, looking at her, "you led me to believe that this thing was not _that_ big."

"It isn't," she whispered back.

"Then what is making those footsteps?!"

"I don't know. This definitely isn't a terentatek." Another tremor, and another. They were getting closer together now. Something, something _huge_ , was walking towards their location. "It must be a graul," she said suddenly.

"What is a graul?" Nova snapped.

"A very large creature. We can't-"

She cut off as someone screamed, and then a hail of blaster fire began to sound as over a dozen rifles opened up. Something roared loud enough to shake the whole area. The blaster fire intensified. "We can't let them kill it!" Maya shouted, and hurried forward.

"Why not?!" Nova demanded. "Listen to that! That thing is a giant monster, and it's fighting Mandalorians! Let them kill each other."

"No! They're rare, Nova, and it isn't a monster! It doesn't go on rampages, it doesn't seek people or settlements out! It doesn't deserve this!"

Then she was gone from sight, her lightsaber drawn.

"Aw, dammit, come on!" Seth snapped, setting his rifle to maximum charge and rushing after her. Nova cursed and followed him. They hurried through the trees, the plants, branches scratching them, pulling at their clothes. The sounds of fighting were getting a lot heavier, and the Mandalorians' screams quickly turned from joyous battlelust to panic. Seth heard one particular scream getting louder and barely managed to dodge out of the way as a large man in head-to-toe blue-silver combat armor came flying at him. Instead of hitting him, the Mandalorian hit a tree hard enough that, even with the armor, Seth heard several bones break.

The man stopped screaming abruptly.

Seth hurried forward, finally breaking through the dense vegetation and into a huge clearing. He took it in at a glance. Trees all around him, a large cliff face with a waterfall spilling into a watering hole to the left, maybe a dozen Mandalorians spread out, firing desperately at an enormous beast. He finally got a good look at this graul. It was indeed huge, easily fifteen feet tall, maybe even upwards of two stories high.

It was a big, bulky thing partially covered in dark fur. Horns grew from its temples and large, curved claws out of its hands. It had huge blocky teeth that were currently covered in blood. From the glint of armor Seth saw in its grasp, he got the idea that it had just bitten a Mandalorian in half. The thing lashed out with its foot, which was as broad as a tree trunk, and hit another armored bastard with all the force of a tank round.

"Holy crap," Seth whispered as he stared up at the behemoth creature.

He saw Maya ahead of him. She gestured sharply with her hand and one of the Mandalorians was picked up and thrown with as much force as if he'd been hit by the graul. That tipped the hostiles off to the fact that they were no longer alone with the graul. One of them turned his rifle on Maya. Seth snapped his own rifle up and fired off the overcharged shot. It took the son of a bitch right in the faceplate, shattering glass and sending him sprawling to the ground, screaming. He heard Nova open fire somewhere behind him.

The chaos of the battlefield became even more confused and muddled as the Mandalorians tried to react to the new threat that had come into their midst. Seth gunned down another of the bloodthirsty bastards, hosing the armored figure down with rapid fire bolts from his brand new blaster rifle. He ducked as he sensed someone taking a swing at him from his right and barely avoided a sword. Dropping his rifle, he ripped out his own blade and brought it up just in time to defend himself from a deadly blow.

Sparks flew as their swords clashed together. Seth fought hard, launching into a frenzied attack that the Mandalorian didn't seem to have too much trouble dealing with. He fought harder, putting more strength behind the attacks, more of his rage, his hatred for the Mandalorians and all that they had done as they'd ripped through the galaxy, razing whole worlds, slaughtering millions. Maybe even billions. He beat the man's blade aside and then stabbed him through the neck. The Mandalorian let out a gurgling scream and Seth saw blood spray all over the inside of his helmet. He ripped the blade out in a torrent of blood and kicked the assailant away.

Another one was running straight for him with his sword raised, screaming, but suddenly a lightsaber flew out of nowhere and sliced his head right off. The saber kept whipping around, moving back in a tight arc, and returned to Maya's hand. Seth looked around, ready to find the next enemy, and found only the graul, stomping on the last living Mandalorian. Well, not living any longer, clearly. He raised his rifle.

"Wait!" Maya cried.

"What?! That thing's gonna kill us!" Nova snapped.

"No! I can handle it! Just wait! Fall back!" she replied.

Seth glanced uncertainly at Nova, then shrugged and fell back. Nova joined him. They returned to the treeline, weapons raised and ready in case this went poorly. It was time to see just how good Maya was when it came to this Jedi stuff. The grual let out an enraged roar and then twisted around fully to face Maya. She stood in the center of the clearing, her lightsaber switched off now. She holstered it and raised her hands.

Something seemed to shift in the air, something more felt than seen or heard. The graul took one large step towards her and the ground trembled under its footfall. Maya stood her ground, her back to them, arms raised. He thought he could hear her muttering, but he couldn't be sure. Seth stood there, tense and rigid, ready to do something, anything, if it all fell apart, which it looked like it was just a hair away from doing.

The graul took another step towards her, mouth open, looking like it was ready to bend down and snap her in half. Then something happened. It hesitated. The fire seemed to leave its eyes. It slowly began to relax. He and Nova watched in amazement as the beast's arms lowered, its mouth closed, its eyes began to lose focus. It let out a sound that might have been a whimper. Then, swaying its big head around left to right, it turned around and began clomping off into the forest. The tremors faded as it disappeared completely from view.

"Okay," Maya said, "you can come out now."

"How'd you do that?" Seth asked in wonder as he and Nova emerged into the clearing again.

"The Force, and a lot of practice," Maya replied. She turned to face them and he realized she was sweating, her face flushed. That had obviously taken a lot of effort. "I believe I mentioned that I'm very empathic. That applies to animals, as well. I have a great love of them. I don't wish to see them harmed if at all possible."

"Does that leave you conflicted about our mission?" Nova asked.

"Not really, no. Terentateks are pure evil. They are beings wholly of the Dark Side. If anything, I see ending their lives as an act of mercy more than anything else. They exist simply to hunt and kill Force sensitives, and anything else that crosses their path." She looked around at the bodies. "We should search them and then track down their encampment, see if any others stayed behind and then go deal with them."

"Yeah," Seth replied, nodding as he got control of himself again. Seeing that huge thing had really rattled him. "We should do that."

They set to work.

* * *

They found the Mandalorian's encampment without too much trouble.

Seth kept bracing himself for another assault, but after some careful surveillance they determined that the Mandalorians had indeed committed the entirety of their resources to taking down the graul. The camp itself wasn't very large, centered around an abandoned structure of some kind. There were several stacks of crates, a few land speeders, and several foldout tables spread across the clearing they'd set up shop in.

The trio poked through it, investigating their findings.

"Well," Maya said, coming out of the structure, "with the exception of items stolen from any civilians, I'm declaring everything here official property of the colony. This will definitely help. There's a lot of weapons and spare parts here."

"Are we sure that's all of them?" Seth asked.

"I'm fairly certain, but we will definitely be on the lookout for any others. We still need to figure out how they got here...but honestly, that is a problem for the planetary government. We did our part, we eliminated the threat and determined that there was not, in fact, a terentatek on Dantooine. Which I must say is quite the relief," she replied.

They went back to their own speeders and mounted them.

"What now?" Nova asked.

"Now we go back to the colony, let them know the situation, and finish preparing for our excursion into the galaxy," Maya replied.

"Sounds good," Seth said.

They activated the speeders and headed out of the forest.


	25. Chapter 25: Leaving Dantooine

Seth took a long, slow walk around the colony.

It had been two days since they'd finished off the Mandalorians and saved the graul. Most of those two days had been spent getting everything in order. Since he wasn't particularly technical-minded and he had a big frame and worked out a lot, mostly he just moved heavy stuff. Which he was fine with. It was sufficiently mindless work, it was easy work, and it gave him time to think. And right now, Seth really needed to think. If anything, he was slowly beginning to realize that he'd actually been going through life specifically _not_ thinking.

And he was examining that now.

The reason was obvious, at least: thinking hurt. Not in the way that smart people asked dumb people if thinking hurt their poor brains. No, thinking hurt emotionally, because when you grow up in a miserable environment where abuse in its many forms is common, thinking was really just a path to pain. You get to thinking about something and all too quickly your brain starts asking questions. Why did I have to grow up so damned poor? Why did so many people hate me in school? Why do my friends keep dying?

Questions like that had no good answer.

If anything, he knew the answers, and it didn't help at all. The answer was: because that's the way the cards fell. That was the luck of the draw. That was the throw of the dice. He'd been born into a poor family on a poor colony. He was kind of funny looking and children are very cruel, and when you start out feeling worthless, it's a very easy transition to thinking you deserve this. You deserve the bad things that happen to you.

And he was a soldier in a bad war.

People died in war.

But knowing that didn't make it any easier, really. And so, consequently, he'd taught himself to stop thinking. He'd done everything he could to avoid thinking about things. It was why he drank as often as he did, or used to, anyway. Hard to get wasted when you were on duty so often and actually felt a deep sense of responsibility to those around you. And so it had just become second nature. For awhile, he liked it, but now he was beginning to see that it was probably detrimental to his health. Physical, emotional, and mental.

He needed to think about his life, about his purpose, about why he did what he did.

He'd been thinking about that specifically a lot over the past two days.

Seth came to a halt as he saw the lights of the clinic spilling out onto the colony's only road. He was almost positive Seri was still in there. He wanted to ask her a question. Her and Yex and Nova. They were all so...independent and responsible and adult. He was certainly independent enough, but in a way Seth still felt kind of like a teenager. As he resumed his journey, approaching the clinic, the front doors opened up and Seri stepped out. She looked around and when her eyes fell on him, she smiled and walked over.

"What are you doing out here?" she asked with a smile.

"Just taking a walk. Thinking about things," he replied.

"What kind of things?" she asked, and she took his hand and led him over to a bench where they sat down together.

"My life, I guess. What we're doing...I had a question."

"What's your question?"

"Why...do you do the things you do? In life, I mean. What motivates you?"

Seri lost her smile. "That's a big question. Hmm...I suppose what motivates me is getting meaning out of my life. And I've come to the conclusion that the only way I can really do that is to help people with my medicinal skills. I have a mind uniquely gifted in that respect. I just get medicine. I can help people in ways that most of the population simply can't."

"Does it work?" Seth asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Is your life fulfilling? Are you happy?"

She sighed. "I'm...getting back on that road, I think. I've had a hard life. Especially since coming back to Taris. I was happy when I was in school. Busy, very busy, but happy. It felt like I was getting things done. But then coming back to Taris, my parents dying, being forced into exile in the Undercity...I've been miserable for a long time now. But I like to think that helping people, that my medical skills and, more importantly, my application of them to people who would suffer and, in some cases die otherwise, is what really kept me going. I knew I couldn't give up, because if I did, someone out there that I could have saved would die..." she paused suddenly and looked at him. "Why are you asking me this?"

"I just...I have a lot of problems of my own," he said, looking down at his feet. "Maya's trying to help me. I basically had a psychotic break back on Taris and I almost had another one here. And I want to, you know...be better. So I'm trying to figure some things out about myself, my life. I thought it would help to hear what keeps you going. You're so smart and motivated and kind."

"Oh, well...thank you," she murmured. "And I'm glad, Seth. You _are_ a good person. I can see that. You risked your life to save us on Taris. I mean, you absolutely saved my life in the cargo bay. I...I'm curious. What is the exact nature of your relationship with Nova?"

He looked over at her. "What do you mean?" he replied.

She offered him a small, awkward grin. "I'm sorry. That was probably a weird topic change. It's just that relationships are weird to me. I've never quite been in a real relationship. I've had...I guess you could say close friends that I made love with from time to time, but never anything serious. I've never really felt the urge, apparently not like so many other people do. I just find it interesting that so much of our society, our media and marketing and storytelling revolves around relationships and love. So I ask people about their relationships, if I like them enough and trust them."

"Well, uh...I feel pretty close to Nova, but we've decided to keep it simple for now. We like each other a lot, we, you know, sleep together."

"Is it exclusive?"

"I mean...sort of."

She giggled. "How can it be sort of exclusive?"

He shifted uncomfortably. "We've agreed that we'll remain exclusive unless someone comes along that we'd like to, you know...be with, and then we'll check with each other to see how it scans...why?"

"I'm just curious," Seri replied. She yawned suddenly. "Oh, wow, I didn't realize how exhausted I was. Are we still leaving tomorrow?"

"Yeah, as far as I know, tomorrow morning."

She stood up. "Okay. I must get back to the ship and make sure that we have all the appropriate medical supplies. What are you going to do?"

"Find Yex. I want to talk to him about this, too. Any idea where he is?"

"I believe he went to the administration headquarters to get a few more supplies for the ship," Seri replied.

"Okay, thanks. I'll see you back on the ship."

She gave him a hug. "See you there, Seth."

"See you, Seri."

He could see the administration building not too far away and set off towards it. Talking to Seri had been good, he decided. At least in the sense that her explanations had helped him a bit. He felt terrible for her. She didn't deserve all the crap life had thrown at her. He just wanted her to be happy. Seth was honestly curious what Yex would say. Something about Yex reminded him of a monk, and a Jedi, actually. A good Jedi.

He found Yex inside the admin building, in a back storage room, rooting around through a few open crates.

" _Hello, Seth,_ " he said without turning around.

"How'd you know it was me?" Seth asked.

" _I just knew. Some in my life tell me that I have a touch of what the Jedi call the Force._ "

"That...makes sense actually. Um, how are you doing? What's happening?"

" _All is well. I am hunting for a few last minute additions to our inventory. Otherwise, we are fully stocked on spare parts, tools, and other useful items with regards to the upkeep and maintenance of our vessel._ "

"That's good. You're a dedicated worker."

" _I am. To do otherwise seems unwise._ "

"I guess so...I've got a question for you."

" _Please ask. I will answer to the best of my ability._ "

"Thanks. Why do you do the things that you do in life? What, you know, motivates you?"

Yex was silent for just a few seconds. " _In my experience, in our galaxy that we all share, there is much darkness. I have found that there are two ways to help push back against this. The first is to remove darkness. The second is to add light. You are largely a remover of darkness, as is Nova. Seri and I more add light, though we have been called to remove darkness from time to time, I more than her, as I am a more capable warrior. This is what motivates me. I have the capacity to add light to the galaxy. I can fix things that most other people cannot. I can help. I can ease suffering. I can create joy. To do otherwise would be immoral._ "

"So it's a moral imperative then? That's why you do it?"

" _Not entirely. I also do it because it gives me great pleasure to do so. In my life, I have found that the greatest pleasure for me is to help others."_ He hesitated and pulled something out of the crate, then turned and looked at Seth. " _Although I do recognize that this may be interpreted as an indictment on those who are not as giving as I am. I do not intend for this. I try not to pass judgment too often. Most people want simple lives, and I can appreciate that. I am lucky. I do not have to struggle to give of myself. It simply comes naturally to me. I understand that I am an aberration. Most sentients are, to varying degrees, selfish. I try not to judge them. Only when some are selfish to the detriment of others do I pass judgment and, if possible, intervene._ " He paused again and began gathering up the tools and parts he'd placed in a small pile.

" _What brought this question on?_ "

"Well, I'm doing some soul searching, I guess," he replied.

" _I approve greatly of this action. Not enough people look inward._ "

"Well...it's kind of scary. And painful."

" _Yes. Introspection often is. But it is a worthy goal. Would you like some advice?_ "

"I would definitely welcome advice," Seth replied.

" _Good. Another healthy trait. Always be ready to listen. But that is not the advice. My advice is this: we do not find the meaning of life. We_ _ **create**_ _the meaning of our lives. Give your own life meaning, Seth. If you listen to yourself, and give yourself adequate time to speak, then you will know your answer._ "

"Thanks, Yex," Seth said. It made a certain kind of sense.

" _You are welcome, my friend. I am going to return to our vessel now._ "

"I need to find Nova."

" _I believe she is on the vessel._ "

"Perfect. Then I'll join you."

" _I would like that._ "

They began walking out of the administration building.

* * *

"There you are."

Nova looked up. She was laying on their bed, reading from a datapad. She was laying partially under the blankets, and he suspected that she was fully naked. She at least was topless. "Here I am," she said, "what's up? Where have you been?"

"Thinking," he replied.

"What about?" His serious tone seemed to banish the vague playfulness in her voice. Not an effect he really liked, but he was feeling kind of serious right now.

"Life. Meaning."

"Wow," she murmured. "Well...I guess after everything that happened on Taris, and coming to a place like Dantooine, it's got us all kind of introspective."

"I have a question for you," he said, sitting down on the edge of their bed.

"Shoot."

"Why do you do what you do in your life?"

She blew out a long sigh. "That's a heavy question," she muttered. He had the idea that Nova didn't really like thinking in the same way he did. She sat up straighter and looked down at the bed for a few seconds, then suddenly looked up. "Maybe it's time I told you a little more about myself."

"Do you want to?" he asked. He also had the idea that revealing her past did not come easy to Nova.

"No, I don't, but I think I should. I..." she hesitated, sighed, growled in frustration. "I _do_ trust you, Seth." She snorted and sighed again, shaking her head. "I trusted you from the moment I first saw you. That's why I was...mistrustful of you. How's that for ironic? Something about you just...whatever. I had a pretty crap life growing up. Poor, bordering on destitute, very miserable. Absent dad, hooker mom, you know the story. When I was eighteen, I ended up joining a gang because some of my friends were in it. Not some BS street gang either. They were a bit more legit. They had a network. I...became a hooker for them. An 'escort'," she said, rolling her eyes. "It was surprisingly good money. The gang leader liked me for whatever reason. I wasn't just an escort though, not after a few months. They gave me a little training on thievery, although I've always been good at stealing things. So I would escort for clients they'd set me up with and steal something from them. At first it was just valuable crap. Then it became information.

"I did that for two whole years. I was good at it, but my gang was mostly human. At the end of the day, they didn't see me as an equal. It was partially a sexist thing, but mostly it was a racist thing. There was nothing I could do to ever be 'good enough' for them. I didn't want to complicate things, but it nagged me a lot. And then, one night, I was off duty, having a good time at a bar, and what do you know? The head of a rival gang starts hitting on me. I figure maybe, just maybe, if I can steal something from _him,_ I'd earn some more respect. Because these two gangs _hated_ each other. So I let him take me back to his place."

She stopped and then raised her knees, resting her arms on them, then her head on her arms. "I hate this part of the story," she muttered. "I haven't told it to almost anyone, but I think I tell it to myself once a week at least." She heaved a sigh. "We slept together. I waited for him to fall asleep, then started looking for something important to steal. Right as I got my hands on it, I turn around and there he was, waiting for me. He knew exactly who I was. He wanted to make a deal, he had an offer: if I killed my gang's leadership by poisoning their meals and drinks, he would accept me in his gang not only as an equal, but as his partner. He was a twi'lek. And I...did it. I did it. I went back with the thing he'd let me 'steal', and when the time was right, I poisoned the building's supply of food and booze. Probably twenty, twenty five people died that day."

She stopped again. He thought she was trying not to cry. Hearing this, and seeing her like this really tore at his heart, but he wasn't sure what to do. He thought the best thing might be to let her finish before he said anything. "And, of course, when I went back, he betrayed me. I was attacked, beaten, and they slapped a neural shock collar on me. He kept me as a sex slave for two months. I managed to get the best of him one night. I killed him. And then I killed pretty much everyone else in that building. Then I ran home to my mother. I was done with the gang crap, I just wanted something simple again. Even poverty was better than what I'd been going through. I had just started building something of a life for myself when, a few months later, the Mandalorians came through and bombed my world into oblivion.

"After that, I became a bounty hunter." She snorted, laughed bitterly. "I _called_ myself a bounty hunter. Really, I was just hunting Mandalorians, or any sick son of a bitch who hurt women like me. Sometimes I'd kill someone who had a bounty on them and I'd get credits for it. And that became my life. And now you know why I have trust issues. I was betrayed, and I betrayed people who...they weren't perfect. Some of them were absolutely awful and some I'm actually very glad I killed, but some of them really didn't deserve it. I did that. And I have to live with that for the rest of my life. So...why do I do what I do?" Nova raised her head again and looked firmly at him.

"Honestly, for a long time, because I was angry. I was furious. I was livid for years. At the gangs, at society, at the Mandalorians, at myself. I hated so much. But now I guess I'm just trying to make up for it. All the bad things I did, I'm trying to sort of even it out. In some ways, I never can, but I guess doing good things is better than not. Of course, I'm also kind of a selfish hedonist, so I am also motivated by things like good food and booze and credits and a _great_ lay." She stopped, losing the small smile she'd gained.

"Do you hate me?" she asked softly.

"No, Nova," he replied. "I don't hate you."

"I did some really awful things. I mean, even that aside, not many people feel like dating thieving, murderous ex-hookers."

"Nova, do you want a hug?" he asked.

She stared at him for a few seconds, and he saw that her eyes were wet, and she laughed suddenly. "Yes, I think that'd help a lot."

She abandoned the blanket and moved over to him. He readjusted so that his back leaned against the wall, and she laid against him, hugging him fiercely, and he hugged her back. She laughed again, tried to say something, then let out a sob. He flashed back to Seri as Nova started crying against him. He hugged her to him.

"It's okay," he whispered, because...that's what you said in situations like this. Or it was the only thing that came to mind, anyway. That and, "I'm sorry."

He wasn't particularly good with emotional situations.

At some point in the near future though, he had the suspicion that he was going to be the one crying. It wasn't something he looked forward to. He held Nova until she finished crying, and when she was done, she let out another frustrated sigh.

"I feel so weak," she muttered.

"I don't think you're weak," he replied, rubbing her arm, "but it is okay to let your guard down every once in awhile."

"I guess it is," she murmured. She sat up and looked at him for a long few seconds. "It really doesn't bother you? Everything I told you?" she asked.

"Not particularly. I mean...nobody's perfect. And I've done some bad things too, you know. I've beat the crap out of people who honestly didn't deserve it. I've killed a lot of people, and some of them probably didn't deserve it. Nova, I-I don't know if...I don't want to pass judgment on you, you know? I respect you and I trust you and I think you're a good person. Whatever you might have been before, you're a good person now, okay?"

"Yeah...I guess that's going to have to be good enough," she murmured. "I mean-sorry, that wasn't directed at you. I mean that more in a general sense...man, that got so heavy!"

"Do you regret telling me?"

"No. I hated doing it, but it needed to be done, I think. I haven't told anyone that story for a long, long time. I haven't trusted anyone enough with it. I guess I trust Seri. She's such a sweetheart. And Yex, probably. He's one of those people who's so good that it makes you feel guilty by comparison," she said.

"I know exactly what you mean," Seth replied.

"So did that...I mean, did what I have to say help?"

"I think so."

"Well, I'm glad for that at least." She yawned suddenly. "Aw damn, crying really takes it out of you. You coming to bed soon?"

"Yeah, I'll be in before too long. I need to go check in with Maya, make sure we're all good to go for launch tomorrow," he replied.

"Okay. Don't be too long."

He smiled. "I won't."

She gave him one more hard hug, then let him go. Picking back up her datapad, she resumed reading. He headed out of their room and tracked down Maya. She was sitting on the bridge, holding a datapad of her own and studying it while drinking from a cup of tea.

"Hello, Seth," she said without turning around. "How are you?"

"Tired," he replied. "I think I have an answer to your question."

Maya put down what she was holding and turned around. "What is your answer?"

"I admittedly feel like it's kind of basic, but...I've decided, or reconfirmed, I guess, that at my core, I still do what I do for a simple reason: to help people. I know what misery is, and for whatever reason, I'm willing to throw myself into insane danger and tend to come out the other side intact. And that's a skill that can help people, a skill that most people don't have. I want to help people. I want to make the galaxy a better place. That's why I'm doing what I'm doing."

She smiled. "I'm very glad to hear that."

"Why'd you ask me?" he replied.

"Because I think you'd forgotten. I think that you've been doing what you've been doing for so long, that you no longer think of the why. You operate on autopilot. And Taris shook you, badly. At your core, you are a good person, Seth. I can sense this about you. There is a lot of hatred and anger and fear in you, and to a certain degree it has tainted you, but that doesn't mean you're a bad person. I wanted you to remember that about yourself, why you chose to pick up that rifle, put on that armor, and charge that hill."

"Very soldier of you," he replied.

"I've spent a lot of time around soldiers, Seth."

"Do they bug you?"

"Some of them do," she replied with a small smile. "But in general I like them."

He began to respond but yawned instead. "I'm very tired," he said, more as an observation than a statement.

"Yes you are. We all are. We're going to spend about two days in transit, and I want to take that opportunity to rest up for the mission ahead. The place we are going to next has a very unforgiving environment."

"Where _are_ we going? You haven't actually said yet."

"I'll give you all a full briefing tomorrow. It's a snow planet called Hoth."

"Ugh, great. I hate snow," he muttered.

"A lot of us do. Go get some sleep."

"You should too."

"I will."

He lingered for a few seconds longer, wondering if he had anything else to say. Finally, he said, "Thank you, Maya, for helping me. I really do appreciate it."

"You're very welcome Seth."

"Goodnight."

"Goodnight."


	26. Chapter 26: Transit

Seth sighed softly as he stared at himself in the mirror. He stood nude before it, and in the powerful lights of the bathroom, it was pretty clear how messed up he was. He'd gotten fairly used to the other scars that remained on his body. They'd accumulated over the past several decades when there hadn't been time or opportunity to get to a more serious medical facility. There were fairly effective treatments for getting rid of most any scar nowadays, and he actually had basically free access to them given his rank and status in the Republic military, but not only did he not have the time, he didn't seem to have the want to either.

It felt kind of pointless, given his occupation.

And his level of attractiveness.

Removing scars kind of felt like polishing up a battered, rust-eaten, time-worn trinket. There just wasn't much reason to.

"Why are you sighing in here?" Nova asked, slipping into their shared bathroom and coming up behind him.

"Just...looking at the new scars," he replied.

Specifically, he was looking at his right shoulder. A new patchwork web of scarring had emerged there. It wasn't as glaring as some of the others, but it was ugly. It had come from the burn when he'd first crash-landed on Taris. He knew he shouldn't be bitching about it, even in his own head, because it could have been a lot worse if Seri hadn't saved him or applied that kolto.

"Oh come on, you're being ridiculous, they're no big deal," Nova said. She hesitated, then winced suddenly. "I'm sorry, that was really dismissive and rude. Um...I was actually going for, uh, reassurance."

"It's fine," he replied.

"No, it isn't! This obviously matters to you." She heaved a sigh and came to stand beside him, looking up at him. "I have seen you fearlessly throw yourself into combat with terrible odds, and yet you're hedging now in a simple conversation. Why?"

"Well...this isn't a battle. You aren't an enemy. I don't like fighting."

"Seth, it doesn't have to be a fight!" She paused. "I'm sorry. I'm getting worked up. I just...I care about you, and you're a great person, and I hate seeing you miserable. Which you obviously are...take a shower with me?"

"Yeah, sure," he replied.

She turned on the shower and they got in. He had to admit, this wasn't the conversation he'd been expecting to have first thing in the morning. It was the night after they'd taken off from Dantooine and started heading for Hoth.

"Talk to me," Nova said.

"I don't know what to say, I guess. It just feels like anything on my mind will make you unhappy, because you hate seeing me miserable."

Nova frowned, considering this. "That's a fair point, I guess. But I want to hear it anyway."

He tried to figure out how best to put it, because even in his own head it didn't make sense. "I guess I've got conflicting ideas going on, none of them good. I'm frustrated because these new scars are just the latest thing to be added to the list of unattractive features about me, but at the same time, I also kind of figure, what difference does it make? Ugly is ugly."

"Wow, Seth," Nova said, staring at him from beneath the shower. "That...I'm not even entirely sure where to begin. I mean, you aren't ugly for starters. I at least know that much. And don't give me that 'you're just saying that' crap, Seth. Because I'm not. I'm genuinely attracted to you, for a number of reasons, but one of them is physical. I think you're hot. Obviously Seri does. I think Maya might even be turned on by you, but I doubt she'd ever admit it. And I'm pretty sure you said it yourself: scars are hot. Plus, I'm really not trying to be dismissive here, but why do you even care?"

"I don't know!" he replied, exasperated. "That's what I don't understand! Why do I even care whether or not strangers find my physically attractive?!"

"I think it's a confidence issue. I think this is a symptom, not the problem."

"How do you mean?"

"You obviously have confidence issues, which you really shouldn't. You're obviously strong, physically and mentally. I've personally seen you pull off some physically impressive stunts, and you didn't break after two days of torture. You're dedicated, you're loyal. I honestly think you might die before you'd betray the Republic. You're competent, you're a good soldier, a great shot, brave, if a little reckless. You're fantastic in bed. You have every reason to be confident, but deep down in your core, you aren't. And I know you aren't because...I have the same problem. I'm always afraid and insecure." She sighed. "The fact that I said those words to you is... _that_ is how much I trust you. Don't take this the wrong way, but I kind of hate that I trust you so much."

"I actually understand," he replied. "It feels like a weakness, doesn't it?"

"Yes. It does. And being weak has traditionally not gone well for me."

"I know, and I'm sorry. I guess the only thing I can do is promise that I'll never take advantage of you. I'll never betray you."

"I don't think you can promise that. I don't think anyone can," she murmured. "But I can tell that you believe what you're saying. We're getting off track. I'm making this about me...I guess the best thing I've got right now is, you have a lot of reasons to be confident. And, maybe more importantly...try to stop putting emphasis on confidence. What you _do_ matters more. And you do good things. Just keep doing good things, and do your best to leave the baggage behind." She laughed and shook her head. "Listen to me. I should be saying this to myself."

"I think you're a good person," he said.

"Even with all that nasty crap I did before?" she replied.

"I mean, I think so. It's a complicated issue. I'm reluctant to think that your life should become all about the worst thing you ever did. I think people should have a chance to redeem themselves...but I also think a lot of people would just fake it. And I do think some people might be irredeemable. I think, in this particular instance, you're a good person, Nova, and that you're trying to make up for what you did before. And you're doing a good job, I mean look at all the people you helped from the Undercity. And you have a lot of reasons to be confident. I also think you're the most attractive woman who has ever agreed with sleep with me."

She laughed. "Oh, is that so?"

"Yes. More significantly, you're the bravest, most badass woman that's ever slept with me."

"Well, that's good to hear at least. You okay to stop talking and start doing something else?"

"Yes, I am," he replied.

"Good." She kissed him.

* * *

After fun in the shower and a quick breakfast, Seth finally took the opportunity to actually explore the ship that was now his home. In all the time he'd been onboard, he hadn't really had time to poke through all the various rooms. He'd simply been too busy. The ship itself was basically divided into five sections, three of them pretty simple. The cockpit was the only thing accessible at the front of the ship, and right now it was on autopilot, traveling through the flashing blue-white tunnel of hyperspace towards Hoth. Various monitors and pieces of equipment bleeped and blipped softly to each other. The center of the ship, oddly enough, served as both rec room and galley. It was strange for a military ship, but then again, clearly modifications had been made to this vessel.

From there he headed into the port side. As he stepped into the metal corridor there, he had a momentary flash of last week, when he'd been standing at this very spot, preparing to go rescue whoever was still alive in the cargo bay. At the end of the hallway, the closed door seemed to wait for him, a slumbering thing of terror. Seth shook his head and made himself keep going. There were two doors along the right side of the hall, the dormitories where Yex and Maya were staying. Two other doors on the left side led to the infirmary and the armory, ironically located right next to each other. He didn't know if that was in the original design, or that was something the technicians who'd fixed it up had done.

And fix the ship up they had.

Although he had his reservations, when Seth stepped into the cargo bay where he'd saved Seri's life and nearly lost his own, he was genuinely impressed. It looked almost brand new. It was mostly empty, save for some crates stacked and lashed to one of the walls. Probably spare parts for the ship, or maybe a good store of food. He left and then took a moment to stop in engineering, at the back of the vessel. Mostly it was taken up by the hyperdrive, which was a bigger, bulkier, older model. From what he'd learned from Yex, they had initially wanted to tear it out and put in a newer, sleeker model, but they didn't have the time or the credits on hand, so instead they'd just opted to fix it up and add in a few modifications. The rest of the room was taken up by big pieces of equipment that Seth imagined managed things like water filtration, oxygen, heat exchange. The important things that kept sentient beings alive in the deep, dead depths of space.

The final portion of the ship, the one he was most familiar with, starboard, held two more dormitories, the one that he and Nova shared, and Seri's. As he stared at Seri's closed door, he frowned as it suddenly, very abruptly and all at once, occurred to him that Seri probably heard them having sex. He felt a powerful burning sensation creep up his neck and across his cheeks, then sighed heavily. Well...she hadn't actually said anything. Man, that was awkward! He had basically given up trying to coax Nova into being quieter, because it seemed impossible, nor did she seem all that interested in making a genuine attempt.

To be completely honest, he didn't want her being quieter either.

There was also the airlock, a small room that held only the closed inner door and three glass-fronted cases that held emergency space suits. The room that he actually stopped and investigated for a bit was the one that would probably have the biggest impact on him over the next few weeks, or however long he was here: a training room that mostly had exercise equipment. It also provided access to yet another cargo bay, this one being completely empty. Seth promised himself to spend some more time in here as he moved onto the final two rooms. One was, like the secondary cargo bay, totally empty. The other held both a technician's workshop and Yex.

"Yex! Hey, how are you doing?" Seth asked as he came in.

The ithorian was standing at a workbench in the middle of the room, scrutinizing some complicated and highly technical device that had been broken down into its base components. There were three lights on overhead and they were powerful, leaving no room for shadows.

" _Seth, my friend,_ " Yex replied as he straightened up. " _I am very well. I am at home here, in my element, making some final, minute repairs to the ship. And how are you doing?_ "

"I'm okay, I guess. Still kind of...getting some stuff sorted out in my head," Seth replied. He didn't want to bring the ithorian's good cheer down, but he also didn't want to just lie to him either, even in a socially conscious kind of way. Something about Yex inspired truth and genuine conversation. It was a great feeling.

" _I understand. Taris extracted a heavy toll from us, one that we will be feeling for years, I imagine. But I am glad that you are attempting to better yourself. You are on the right path, Seth. You just need to continue walking it._ "

"That's the plan." He paused. "You know, sometimes it strikes me how insane my life is. Sometimes I feel like I'm being slammed from one dangerous situation to the next, one corner of the galaxy to the next, and it's like I can never get settled, never truly get a grasp on...well, the situation and myself even. Do you know what I mean?"

" _I do, actually. Although I have enjoyed long periods of relative peace in my life, I have also experienced great times of consistent danger and upheaval. But let me ask you this: would you prefer a life of peace and quietude?_ "

Seth considered the question for a moment. It was actually something he'd asked himself more than once over the years. Slowly, he shook his head. "No, I wouldn't. I kind of like this life. I mean, aspects of it. Other aspects I hate, but every life is going to have that."

" _Indeed. Everything has its downsides. So if you had a choice, you would continue to choose living this way?_ "

"I...guess I would. Yeah. I mean, I'd modulate it a little. Throw in a few more vacations and a bit more excess living I guess. But otherwise, yeah."

" _It is good that you know this, and acknowledge it. Many people are ill content with their present life, and hold a false ideal life in their mind, a life which is free of pain, no matter how minor. This life does not exist, for anyone. It is impossible to attain._ "

"Yeah, I guess I have kind of figured that out. I think one of my mentors said it best once, when I was younger. 'The goal of life isn't to eliminate misery, it's to reduce it as much as possible.'"

" _Hmm. A bit grim, but ultimately a true statement._ "

Seth nodded. He glanced back as he heard familiar voices talking quietly nearby. They sounded like they were coming from his and Nova's room. "Thanks for the talk, Yex. I love having conversations with you."

" _As I do with you, Seth. I welcome a talk with you at any time._ "

"Thanks. And if you ever want to talk about anything, come find me." He hesitated. "I guess unless I'm, like...busy with Nova."

Yex offered a rare, deep chuckle. " _I would never dream of interrupting your mating._ "

"I...thanks," he replied, and left the room, because he wasn't sure how to handle where the conversation was going.

He moved across the hall to his and Nova's dormitory. He definitely heard Nova and Seri talking in there. Nova was laughing.

He opened the door. Both women were sitting on the bed, but they both clammed up as soon as he came into the room. "What are you two laughing about?" he asked, grinning, feeling surprisingly playful suddenly.

"Nothing you need to worry about, Seth," Nova replied with a sly smirk.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked, looking at Seri, who looked away from him.

"It means mind your own business, handsome," Nova said. "This is a private conversation."

He sighed over-dramatically. "Fine! Keep your secrets."

"Don't worry, they won't be secrets forever," Nova replied.

He was tempted to ask what _that_ meant, but clearly Nova was going to keep her own counsel, as was Seri, and that was fine. Although he was really curious about what it could be. What could they be talking about that they didn't want him to overhear? Maybe they were just swapping sex stories. He supposed he could buy that. Although Nova was cavalier enough to say almost anything, he imagined Seri was a bit more reserved, and Nova was protecting her privacy probably. Well, that was fine then. He closed the door and left, deciding it was high time to get to work.

* * *

"How is the armory?" Maya asked.

Seth jumped slightly and looked back over his shoulder, seeing her standing in the doorway. He hated how quiet she could be.

"Sorry," she murmured. "Didn't mean to scare you."

"It's fine. And so far it all looks good," he replied.

"What are you doing?" Maya asked.

"Putting together my kit for Hoth. Now that we've got some time and access to a properly stocked armory, I want to at least try to stack the deck in my favor a little bit more. I imagine that it's going to get dangerous on Hoth."

"Any particular reason?"

"It gets dangerous wherever I go, I've tended to notice."

"That has been true recently," Maya murmured. "When you're finished in here, would you join me for another meditation session? It's important that we build that into your daily routine."

He considered it. "Yeah...you're right. And I really need to get back to working out everyday. It's been so chaotic lately...even by my crazy ass standards. Uh...where should we do it?"

"Come to my quarters, we can meditate there."

"All right. I'll probably be another hour or so."

"Okay. See you then."

He watched Maya go, frustrated at his jumpiness around her. The thing was, he did actually trust her. It was just that...she was a Jedi. She just triggered that fear, that distrust in him. Would he ever be rid of that? Obviously sheer willpower and suppression hadn't done the job. If anything, he was beginning to suspect that it had actually made it worse. So he was going to have to face this. And it was going to suck. Nova had a good point. Why was he so hesitant and afraid in matters that happened off the battlefield?

He guessed it was because you couldn't face emotional or interpersonal problems with a rifle, body armor, and some grenades.

Seth sighed and kept working. Currently, he was modding his Republic Mod Armor. He was giving it an environment underlay that should really help protect him against the cold, and when that was finished, he was going to put on an overlay to protect against blaster fire. He also planned on customizing the assault rifle he'd selected. It was a standard issue, polished silver blaster rifle, brand new and ready for action. Now that he had actual access to all sorts of mods, he intended to kit it out and kill...whatever it was they were going to be fighting on Hoth. As he continued working on this, Seth let his mind fall quiet and became lost in the motions that had become so commonplace to him over the past decade.

* * *

"Okay Seth, you can open your eyes now," Maya said.

Seth opened his eyes and she came into focus, sitting cross-legged in front of him, both of them seated on the thin carpet of her living quarters.

"Deep breath," she said, and he inhaled. "Hold it." He held it, waited. "Release slowly."

He released, breathing out.

"How do you feel?"

"Um...calmer, actually. And focused."

"Good. That was the intent. That is the basic meditation I wanted to show you. We can keep doing this together, but I want you to set aside thirty minutes every day and do this routine from now on. Preferably in the morning. It will help center you, prepare you for the day ahead, calm your mind and emotions. Now, I think we should gather the others and more fully discuss the situation, as I've received a bit more intelligence and it's not great."

They stood up and left her room. As they came out into the central area, Nova and Seri were just emerging as well. Nova was grinning quite big, like she had some kind of secret that she was thrilled about, and Seri...wouldn't quite meet his eyes.

Okay, what the Force did _that_ mean?

He supposed he'd learn eventually.

"Does anyone know where Yex is? I think it's time we finally go over Hoth," Maya said.

"Probably still in his workroom," Seth replied.

"He is, I'll go get him," Nova replied, and headed back the way she'd come. When she returned a moment later, Yex was behind her, and they all gathered on the couches in the middle of the room.

"Okay, let's begin," Maya said. "So, Hoth is a relatively under-developed planet. When the Mandalorian Wars broke out, it was in the process of being mined, with several installations built and mining operations began. Most of those are still in progress, but it's a rather grim world. Now, the place we are going is a Republic outpost, which was established shortly after a Sith presence was detected on the planet. So, it is contested territory. The Republic has set up in an abandoned weather research outpost and, according to the last report, isn't exactly in the best situation. The reason we're going here is because one of their soldiers reported coming in contact with a beast matching the description of a terentatek. It wiped out his entire squad and he was the sole survivor. We have an approximate location, but obviously we'll need to narrow it down. Now, for the unfortunate news. Since we've taken off, contact with the base has been lost."

"Great," Seth muttered.

"Not exactly the most ideal situation," Maya agreed. "So when we get there, it might not be as simple as hunting down the terentatek and killing it...not that that's actually _simple,_ per say, but you get my meaning."

"How far out are we?" Nova asked.

"About thirty hours. So, as per our current 'local' time, we'll be dropping into port tomorrow evening. Be ready," Maya replied.

"We will," Seth said.

"Is there anything else?" Maya asked.

The others were silent, but Seth suddenly spoke up as something occurred to him. "I just realized...I don't know the name of our ship. Does it have a name?"

"If it did, it's been lost to time," Maya replied. "Should we name it?"

"I think we should," Seth said.

"Don't ask me, I'm terrible at naming things," Nova said.

" _As am I,_ " Yex agreed.

"Well...I've got nothing," Maya murmured.

Seth looked at Seri. "You look like you've got an idea," she said.

"I guess I have one," Seth replied.

"What is it?" Nova asked.

"Dauntless."

"That is an excellent name," Maya said immediately. "Put it to a vote. Dauntless?" Everyone responded affirmatively.

"Then it's settled," she said, "our ship is called the _Dauntless_."


	27. Chapter 27: Hoth

Seth stood in the cockpit of the _Dauntless_ , just behind Yex, who silently worked the controls of this vessel he now called home. He stared at Hoth, which was a ball of white, tinged with pale blue. It grew gradually as they approached it.

Behind them, the door slid open.

"Have they responded?" Maya asked as she stepped in.

" _I'm afraid not,_ " Yex replied. " _Should I stay on course?_ "

Maya sighed, coming to stand next to Seth. She scrutinized the silent planet, her gray eyes intense. "Have you managed to run any scans?"

" _Yes, although weather in the region is interfering with them. As best I can determine, there are life signs at the Republic outpost. There are also a scattering of life signs, some sentient, some not, across the region, with another concentration at the abandoned mining installation. Unfortunately, this does not necessarily help narrow down the true status of the outpost. I am at least reading several energy sources there, so they still have power._ "

"Stay on course, and keep trying to talk with them. Seth...come with me."

She about faced and left the cockpit. Seth stared at the planet for a few seconds longer, then followed after her, matching her brisk pace. She led him silently down the passageway, through the galley, and into the right corridor. Ultimately, they came to the armory, where both Nova and Seri were pulling on armor.

"How is it?" Nova asked.

Seth immediately went to the locker he'd set aside for himself, opened it up, and began pulling on his customized Republic Mod Armor.

"No contact, but there's at least life signs and energy readings at the outpost. Yex is taking us in. I'm going to expect the worst, given that this is a warzone we're flying into, so I want all of you ready to fight if need be. Seri, you might be needed to deal with casualties, so be ready. Seth, Nova, I'll be relying on you for backup if we do find ourselves in a combat situation."

"Understood," Seth replied.

"I'll be ready," Seri said, and Nova nodded tightly.

As he finished pulling on his armor and started grabbing his arsenal and inventory, Seth tried to tell himself that it was probably just a malfunctioning comms array or bad weather. Either were possible, even probable.

But his gut wouldn't let him believe that.

* * *

Seth stood with his back to the wall in the little receiving bay outside of the airlock, listening to as much as enduring the rattling of the _Dauntless_ as it burned through the atmosphere of Hoth. He was about as ready as he was going to be for this.

The comms unit mounted on the wall beside him crackled to life. _"Now that we are closer to the surface, I'm detecting weapons fire coming from our landing zone. There is definitely a battle in progress,"_ Yex reported.

Seth reached over and hit the respond button. "See if you can get us in behind enemy lines, fast and low." He paused. "This thing have any weapons?"

" _Unfortunately not,"_ Yex replied.

He sighed. "All right. What kind of numbers are we looking at here? Locations?"

" _It is hard to tell, but I believe the enemy forces are fifty strong, mostly firing from a ridge overlooking the base. They have a few vehicles that are moving into position. I think they may be siege engines of some kind."_

"Damn. All right. Good piloting."

" _Good fighting."_

Seth let go of the button, then hesitated, realizing all at once that he'd kind of just taken control of the situation. He glanced at Maya. "Guess I should've run that by you first."

"You're the soldier here," she replied. "I said I'd defer to your recommendation during combat situations, which this certainly is."

"Okay. Thanks. Seri, I'll want you providing cover fire from wherever you can. Nova, Maya, we're hitting them hard and fast. We won't have the advantage for long, I imagine, so we're going to try and turn the tide fast. I'll be going for one of the vehicles. If you can keep them busy or off of me for long enough, I can get onboard and turn it against them."

"That's...very risky," Maya said.

"I know," he replied.

Maya stared at him for a moment, then sighed. "Very well."

"Let's get into the airlock." He keyed the comms again. "Yex, we're heading into the airlock. Open up the exterior door the second we're down."

" _Understood."_

They filtered into the airlock, which was just about big enough for all four of them to fit without too much trouble. Nova sealed the inner door behind them and Seth began the process of matching interior pressure to exterior atmosphere. All around them, the room started to hiss, mixing in with the vibration of orbital reentry.

"Don't get yourself killed," Nova said, standing very close to him.

"Right back at you," he replied.

She snorted and rolled her eyes. "I'm not the crazy one in this relationship."

"Is that what we have now? A relationship?"

"Oh shut up," she said, shoving him.

He laughed. "Hey, I'm not complaining."

Suddenly, the rattling began to taper off. Seth focused up, thumbing the overcharge on his blaster rifle. Already, he could hear shrieking winds and distant blaster fire outside. "Get ready, it's gonna be bad out there."

Moving up to the door, blaster rifle aimed right at the crack where it would split open, Seth tried to prepare himself for the nightmare that was to come. The ship landed with a hard thud and almost immediately after that, the doors opened up. The howling winds immediately grew louder and snow began blasting into the airlock.

"Go! Go! Go!" Seth screamed as he hopped off the ledge and landed a few feet below with a heavy grunt, not waiting for the ramp to finish extending. He was already booking it for the nearest vehicle, which turned out to indeed be a siege weapon, a tank, kicking his way through the snowdrifts. He had a frag grenade in hand, ready to put it to use the second it looked like they were clued in on the fact that they were getting hit from behind. It didn't take long for _that_ to happen, but he supposed he shouldn't be surprised given that they'd flown in with a good-sized ship.

As soon as the first blaster fire stabbed out at him, Seth primed and chucked the grenade, then did the same thing with a second one, throwing them to either side of the tank he was now about twenty meters shy of. He kept running, opening fire with his blaster rifle, the overcharged shot landing in the chest of a Sith soldier right as the grenades went off. The first he'd overshot and it only knocked a few soldiers over, but the other had landed perfectly and sent a quartet of silver-armored assholes flying through the air to their doom.

He kept firing as he closed the gap, pushing himself as hard as he could. If he didn't go fast enough, they were all going to die. Seth climbed up onto the back of the tank, letting his rifle hang by its sling. As soon as he was up on top, he pulled out his sidearm and moved over to the hatch that would let him in. He punched the open button and found that the crew inside hadn't done their due diligence: they'd left it unlocked.

Too bad for them.

One of them screamed something, in anger or surprise, as Seth aimed down into the control cabin below. He popped off one shot, then two, and finally a third, all in rapid succession. He capped all three of them in the heads and dropped down into the cabin, hoping that this tank didn't have any additional crew onboard, because it shouldn't. He'd guessed right: he was alone. Seth holstered his pistol and took a seat at the turret controls. He stared into the digital display, seeing snow and the Republic outpost. Quickly, he guided the turret to the right and zeroed his sights on another tank. As soon as it was lined up, he fired.

The shell shrieked out of the barrel and slammed into the tank, immediately consuming it in a brilliant plume of flame. There were three tanks on the battlefield, Seth had seen, and he had to eliminate the last remaining one before it did so to him. The very second he confirmed the kill, he began to bring the barrel around as fast as it would allow. The seconds ground by with torturous lethargy. As he began to get the other tank in his sights, he realized that his secret was out: it was turning towards him as well.

Well, this was going to be close.

He kept going, his focus honed down to a narrow beam, breath coming heavy, heart pounding in his chest. He waited for that indicator to light up, letting him know that he had the perfect shot, because he was only going to get one shot at this.

It lit up.

Seth fired.

Right as his shell smashed into the tank, he saw it begin to launch its own round. It shrieked past him, avoiding his own tank likely by mere inches. As he watched it go up in flames, Seth let out his breath in one long, slow exhalation. Refocusing, he checked the area around him, then began to back his tank out of the line of fire from the Republic forces, just in case, and prepared to help them finish cleaning up the local Sith.

* * *

An hour later, Seth sat with most of the rest of the crew in a small receiving bay.

After helping the local forces finish off the remaining Sith, they'd managed to make contact without too much trouble. They'd spent most of the time after the battle helping deal with the immediate aftermath of it. Mainly tending to wounded, either right there in the snow if it was bad enough or carrying them inside. The only one absent at the moment was Seri, who had gone into the infirmary not long after the battle and hadn't come out yet. Seth imagined she was in her element and wished her luck.

When they'd finished dealing with the wounded, a Corporal had identified them and brought them into the base, then told them to hurry up and wait until the commanding officer could come and brief them on the latest developments.

They'd been waiting for fifteen minutes now.

Seth and Nova were sitting next to each other on the floor, their backs to the wall, just trying to come down after the battle. Yex sat in one of the few chairs, studying a datapad in silence. Maya stood with her hands clasped behind her back at the only window in the room, staring out at the snow as it blew silently past.

Finally, the door opened again and a pale man with heavy, dark bags under his eyes stepped in. His uniform was rumpled and stained, his short hair a wild mess. Seth and Nova stood up, Maya turned from the window, Yex powered down and pocketed the datapad.

"Hello, I'm Staff Sergeant Fielding, how can I help you?" he asked. Seth felt for the guy, he sounded as exhausted as he looked.

"Where is Master Sergeant Lindholm?" Maya asked.

"Dead, I'm afraid. He was killed in an attack yesterday. I'm now acting commanding officer of this outpost. I've been told that you were coming, but I'm afraid I haven't managed to be brought up to speed on why exactly you're here. Although your help is most _definitely_ appreciated." He turned to look at Seth. "That stunt with the tank was...inspired."

"I'm just glad I could help," Seth replied.

"So am I and every person in this facility."

"My name is Maya Corix. In short, we represent a joint Jedi-Republic operation. We're hunting a dangerous breed of creatures. They're called terentateks. We had received intel that one such creature was here."

"Oh yes...the creature. I did read that report. So you're here to kill it, then? Why? I mean, don't get me wrong. I heard what it did, it sounded bad, but...why come all this way just to kill one creature?" he asked.

"It's a product of the Dark Side. They spend decades in hibernation and only come out when the Dark Side is on the rise. We want to eliminate them from the galaxy, so we need to take every opportunity we can to kill them," Maya replied.

"Huh, that makes sense. Well, I'd be remiss if I didn't ask if you lot would be willing to pitch in around here? You seem pretty able and mobile. If you could help us deal with a few critical issues, it would be deeply, _deeply_ appreciated," Fielding asked.

Maya glanced at Seth. "I'm okay with pitching in. What do you think?"

"It does seem like a good idea and the right thing to do," Maya said. She nodded and looked back at Fielding. "What do you need done?"

"Right now our absolute top necessity is repairing our heating units. It gets down to negative eighty during the nights and never even approaches above freezing, even on the best days. Naturally, we rely on heating units as much as any space station would. Three of the four have broken down due to a combination of malfunction, poor maintenance, and the Sith attacks. We have one left and it's working over capacity to keep us at even a reasonable temperature. We've had to close down whole sections of the base just to keep it from blowing out, and even that's not enough, not for long. We had managed to identify a potential source of parts crucial for repairing the units. This weather outpost was actually one of a pair. If you could take your ship and some of my men over to it and salvage those parts, it would help _so_ much."

"We can definitely do that," Seth said.

"Good. The only other big thing we need is help recovering a supply shuttle. We're running low on supplies because our resupply shuttle got shot down two days ago by the Sith and we haven't been able to locate it yet. We're working on trying to get it narrowed down and just hoping that the Sith haven't found it, nor has it been completely destroyed, because we desperately need the supplies. Unfortunately this blizzard has been going on for three days straight now. Other than that, your selkath really seems to know her way around a medical bay, and Force knows we could use another medic around here. I don't suppose you have an equally skilled technician among you?"

" _I am,_ " Yex said.

"I...don't speak ithorian," Fielding replied hesitantly. "I'm sorry."

"This is Yex. He is as skilled a technician as our selkath medic, Seri, is."

" _And I would be more than willing to help._ "

"And he would love to help."

"Oh, thank you so much. Our power grid is having difficulty as well." He looked at Maya. "Is it true that Jedi can help accelerate healing?"

"Some can. I can," she replied.

"Okay, good. If at all possible, we could use you in the infirmary. Our kolto reserves are starting to wear very thin."

"I understand." She looked at Seth and Nova. "Can you handle the salvage operation?"

Seth glanced at Nova, who nodded. "We can," he said, then he looked at Fielding. "Can you spare a pilot?"

"I can," he replied.

"Okay, perfect. Um...let's see. First, have someone take Yex to the heating units. I want him to draw up a comprehensive and precise list of all we'll need. Then, have your squad that you're willing to send along meet me here. As soon as they get here, I'll lead them to our ship. Yex, you can transmit the info to us as soon as you're finished."

" _Understood. Good luck._ "

"You as well," Seth replied.

"Okay, I'll get this going. Uh, Jedi Corix, I can show you to the infirmary on the way. And then I am going to take a nap because I am on the verge of passing out," Fielding muttered as he turned and left the room.

Maya and Yex followed after him.

Seth and Nova remained behind, waiting for the others.

It looked like they were going to have their hands full for a little while.


	28. Chapter 28: Derelict

"Well, this is our ship," Seth said as they finished cycling through the airlock.

It had been a bit of a miserable trek from the base back to their ship, as they'd ended up leaving it where Yex had initially parked it. He made a mental note to make sure and have the pilot land on a real landing pad next time. Nova and the five personnel from the base that had been tasked to help on this mission all kicked snow from their boots and brushed it from their armor.

"So, I wanted to ask, who's in charge?" he asked.

They all looked at him, then four sets of eyes turned towards a fifth man who looked a bit older. "You are," he said.

"I am?"

"We all saw what you did out there, and Fielding said you knew what you were doing. So you're in charge," he replied.

Seth just nodded. Well, it would be easier this way, he supposed.

"Let's do introductions. I'm Sergeant Seth Kast. This is my...associate, Nova. She kicks ass more than I do. Your turn," he said, studying each of them in turn as they introduced themselves.

The man who had spoken, who the others looked up to, was also a Sergeant. His name was Jensen and he had pallid skin and a dark beard. Their pilot, a woman called Weston, was silent, gaunt, and grim, her skin a paler shade of Maya's. There were a pair of soldiers that were almost polarized in their physical traits. PFC Jackson was maybe a few inches over five and a half feet tall, built more for speed than strength, his skin dark, expression flat. Private Spalding on the other hand was a huge hulk of a man, his skin as pale as the snow outside the ship. He had a few inches even on Seth, and he looked like he'd seen a ghost.

Probably he'd just gotten out of boot. This might even be his first posting. What a bad place to get a start on your military career.

The last member of the squad was their technician. Her name was Private Kato. She was tall, wiry, and had an air of immense calm about her.

"All right, now that we're introduced, let's get to business. Follow me," Seth said.

He led them into the main chamber. "Cockpit's that way," he said, and Weston nodded tightly and marched off. "Everyone else, armory's this way."

He continued leading them deeper into the ship. By the time he'd gotten them to the armory and everyone began to spread out, hunting for extra resources on top of what they'd already brought with them, the ship was powering up.

"What kind of intel do we have on this place?" Seth asked.

"It's a sister site to our base here, and it's not nearly as large, maybe about a third as big. It was abandoned about a year ago due to budgeting concerns, I think, and after one preliminary maintenance check, because I think they intended to come back at some point, no one ever got back to it, not even to salvage, due mainly to weather and, again, budget. We have a schematic of the place and we know exactly where we need to go. Kato knows precisely what we need," Jensen answered.

"I talked with your ithorian tech. He's a genius," she replied simply.

"He is," Seth agreed.

"We also have a few secondary goals," Jensen said.

Seth hesitated. "What kind of secondary goals? I thought this was going to be a simple in and out mission."

"I'm sorry, Fielding kind of unloaded it on us last second. They _are_ secondary, so if you say no, we don't do it. But we're kind of in a desperate situation, and that place is a potential gold mine of resources, so we could really use them."

"Okay. What, specifically, are the goals?"

"We want to get basic power to the facility online and perform a full systems check to see what's functional and what isn't, as well as try and get an inventory of the base," Jensen explained.

Seth considered it for a few seconds. "Okay, we'll see what we can do when we get there."

"Thanks. We could really, _really_ use the supplies. We're pretty strapped for everything but guns and ammo right now. If at all possible, it would be a massive win if we could get some food. Water isn't exactly desperate, since we've got the filters, although they've been working overtime lately, and...man, our situation is just pretty crap all around."

"How long have you been here?"

"Two months."

"Feels like two years," Jackson muttered, and the others agreed.

"We'll get it done," Seth said finally.

The ship began to ascend. They were on their way.

He started to gear up with the others.

* * *

The flight took almost half an hour and the ship shuddered constantly in the heavy winds. Seth watched the shrieking snowstorm beyond the windows as he waited for the ride to be over after gearing up. As soon as they were down, all of them, including Weston, gathered at the airlock. Besides the fact that she looked like she knew her stuff combat-wise, Seth was for whatever reason getting the feeling that they were going to need all hands on deck for this mission. The scans had revealed no power signals, no life signs, nothing amiss, but the weather was interfering and he didn't trust the scanners. Someone could be down there.

As soon as they were ready, the squad marched out of the ship, across the landing pad, and towards the nearest entrance to the base. It appeared to them slowly out of the swirling gray chaos of the storm, a dark, monolithic structure rising into the dead skies. Its windows were frosted over and there was weather damage evident all over the place. Some of the windows were broken out. Shivering inside his Republic Mod Armor, Seth picked up the pace, wanting very badly to be out of this freezing hellscape, even if it meant being in there.

He hit the exterior exit first and tried it. Naturally, there was no power, so it didn't open, and he had to waste precious seconds hitting the manual release and prying the door open. Finally, he had it and slipped through. Flicking on the flashlight mounted on his rifle's barrel, he swept the room beyond. They'd come to a maintenance area. The place looked like it had been abandoned for quite some time, and there were still tools and parts scattered across pitted and scarred tabletops and workbenches all across the room.

The remains of an all terrain vehicle lay in the center of the room, hood popped, one of its tires missing.

"Damn, getting that thing running alone would make this trip worth it," Jackson muttered as he eyed the vehicle.

"Let's stay focused," Jensen said. "How are we running this?"

"How close are the power reactor and thermal units to each other?" Seth asked.

"They're basically beside each other," Kato replied.

"Okay," Seth murmured, considering it. "Kato, Jackson, and Weston, you're going to deal with that. Kato, I want you to do a quick check of the reactor. If it's a simple matter to bring it online, do it. If it's going to be a pain in the ass, then get the salvaging of the thermal unit parts out of the way first, and then fix the reactor. Either way, once the parts are salvaged, if at all possible, give them to Weston, who will take them back to the ship, and then return to the base if need be. If it's too much for one person, Jackson will help out."

"One person should be able to carry all the parts," Kato replied.

"Perfect. Nova, go with them for backup. Jensen, Spalding, you're with me. We're going to clear the place out and ultimately get up to the control room so that, ideally, once the reactor is online, we'll run a scan of the base. Questions?"

There were none.

"Good. Stay in contact via the radio, five minute checks between groups and two minute checks for anyone who has to go off in pairs. No one goes off on their own. Now, everyone check your gear, make sure it's all working."

There were a string of affirmative replies. As they all did a quick gear check he moved over to Nova, who was grinning at him.

"What?" he asked.

"I haven't gotten to see you actually in charge very much. It's hot," she replied.

He laughed unexpectedly. "Um...thanks," he replied awkwardly, then his brief smile disappeared. "Be careful, okay? Like, really careful."

"You expecting trouble?"

"When are we not expecting trouble?"

Nova sighed. "Good point. I will. You be careful, too. I know how you are."

"I will," he replied.

She gave him a kiss on the mouth and then went off with her group. He watched her go, momentarily pulled out of all his concerns and anxieties and worries. The armor she'd chosen looked really good on her and man, did she have a great ass. He suddenly knew exactly what position he was going to ask for tonight when they were done with this.

"You ready to go?" Jensen asked.

"Uh...yeah, let's go," Seth replied, and set off. The trio walked in silence for the first ten minutes as they cleared the ground level of the outpost. It was mostly staff stuff: living quarters, mess hall, rec room, as well as some storage areas. As they headed up to the second level and started hunting through the infirmary, security center, and offices, he began to get the impression that Jensen had questions, and he also had an idea of what they might be.

"Got a question, Sergeant?" he asked.

They were in the security center, gathering up whatever weapons they could find after breaking into the gun lockers. Jensen looked a little startled. "How could you tell?"

Seth shrugged, honestly not sure himself. "Just a feeling, I guess. Plus, my arrival and presence must be kind of strange."

"I guess...I'm just curious. You're the only one who's obviously military. I think I've met your whole crew. I saw the Jedi, and I was there with Kato when she was talking with Yex, the ithorian, and I saw your selkath medic, and there's Nova...how and why are you all here?"

Seth laughed. "It is a weird situation," he said. "You heard of Taris?"

"Yes, I have actually. There's all sorts of insane rumors going around about it."

"It's gone," Seth replied flatly. "They bombed it into oblivion. I was there. We were all there, except for Maya, our Jedi friend. We barely managed to escape with our lives, fled to Dantooine. They were all kind of outcasts on Taris, forced the live in the worst parts of the city by the rich assholes who ran the place. I tried to save as many other people as I could, manage to get almost a dozen and a half out, but it was really, really bad."

"Holy crap," Spalding whispered. "The whole planet just...gone?"

"Pretty much. Probably about ninety percent of the population wiped out. Maybe more. It was really bad. But we went to Dantooine and the Jedi overheard how insane I was and how good we all were at surviving and figured we could help them out with this mission to hunt down extremely dangerous monsters that only come out when the Dark Side rises. I got permission from the Republic and they all were kind of at a loose end and decided this was worth their time. So..." he shrugged again, "here we are."

"Who's in charge?" Jensen asked.

"Me and Maya kind of split it. She's agreed to defer to me in combat situations, I'm glad to let her make the bigger choices overall, since it's really her mission anyway."

"And you and Nova?"

Seth laughed and rubbed the back of his neck. "I, uh...I mean, I was lucky enough that she really likes me for whatever reason."

"Nice," Jensen replied.

They resumed their search and finished their sweep of the second floor, finding nothing more than some weapons and energy clips that hopefully still had their charge. On the top floor was where they found what they were primarily looking for. They found the control room and the room where he imagined all the raw data of the weather research fed into. After they cleared the area and he found himself studying the dead screens, the inert equipment, he decided it was high time to check on the other team since it had been almost five minutes since their last update. As he began to do so, there was abruptly a hum of power.

Some of the screens flickered weakly to life, and around them the base did the same. There was power, but obviously not a lot of it. Most of the lights weren't on, and the majority of the equipment was still dead.

The radio crackled. _"Got basic emergency power up and running. We've got about half an hour before it's totally dead. We want to come back here, we need to bring new power cells, because this thing is almost drained,"_ Nova said.

"Good work," Seth replied, glancing at Jensen. He was glad to see that the Sergeant was already on the main control console, firing it up for a quick survey of the facility. "Any idea what we're looking at with the thermal units? Over."

" _Kato here. I'm already working on them. Nova handled the reactor. I believe I can pull all the necessary components in about twenty minutes, provided there's no interruptions. Over."_

"Excellent. I'll leave you to it. Nova, Weston, Jackson, watch her back for now. We'll radio down further instructions once we have a clearer picture. Out." He walked over to Jensen and studied the screen. Spalding was walking along the perimeter of the control room. The top floor was divided up into two rooms, with an entrance corridor and stairwell sandwiched between them. About a third of the exterior walls were taken up by windows. He was staring out them, into the silently screaming blizzard beyond.

"How's it going?" Seth asked.

"I'm navigating the systems now. It's sluggish..." Jensen murmured. A few more moments passed. "Okay, I've got a basic scan running right now, and..." he paused again, then reached into his pocket and fished a small piece of tech out, then slotted it into the computer. "That's a signal booster. I'm going to have it transmit all this data to your ship as a backup. And I'm also pulling up a map and inventory of the base. If we can figure out where the most pertinent locations are, we can hit them as efficiently as possible."

"What are your priorities?" Seth asked.

"Food, water, and medical supplies," Jensen replied. "Okay, there's that infirmary we passed on the way up, obviously. And then the mess down on the first floor. Both of those have storerooms, and good stores of supplies, it looks like. As for down below...okay, wow. They had a reserve of kolto in the underground section. Why? Whatever, it doesn't matter."

"Where is it?" Seth asked, studying the map.

Jensen pointed to a portion of the map. It was almost on the opposite end of where the others were right now. "Okay. Jensen and Spalding, go down to the mess and grab as much food and water reserves as you can. Pile them by the side entrance we came in through. I'll do the same with whatever I can find in the medical reserves."

"On it," Jensen said, and waved to Spalding, who was already crossing the room.

Seth followed them out of the room and down to the second story as he activated his radio. "Weston, Jackson, do you copy? Over."

" _Affirmative. Over,"_ Jackson replied.

"We found a kolto reserve. I want you two to get it back to the front entrance, as much as you can. All of it, if you can. Take a left down the main passageway outside of the thermal bay, follow that to a four-way crossroad, and take a right. Follow that to its end. There you will find storerooms. You're looking for Storage Bay 23. That's where the kolto should be. Over."

" _Understood, Sergeant Kast. We're on it. Over."_

"Good. Fast as you can. Out."

Seth took his own advice and hurried his ass up, tracking down the infirmary that he'd seen not all that long ago as Jensen and Spalding went on to the ground floor. He found the infirmary and tracked down the storeroom. As he recalled from the quick clearing he'd given it, there was a shelf of small crates along the back wall. Each one was packed with medical gear and supplies. Seth grabbed as many as he could, trying to prioritize whatever he thought was most important, and then began hustling back downstairs.

As he came into the maintenance bay, he passed the other two, who were already on their way back to gather up their second load of supplies. Setting the crates down, Seth realized that he actually felt kind of good. Sure, this was a miserable place and he was still pretty cold, but he had a fantastic opportunity to help people here. He knew what it was to be trapped in a bad spot with dwindling, or no, supplies. The raw joy and relief from getting a delivery of food and water and medicine to a remote outpost like this…

He was deeply grateful that he could do it.

And then his radio crackled. It was Weston. _"Sergeant Kast, we might have a problem. Over."_

He felt his heart skip a beat and a cold stone drop into his gut. One hand automatically went to his blaster rifle, the other to his comms unit. "What? Over."

" _I think something's down here with us. Over."_

"Sith?"

" _No. Nothing sentient, I think. Something's moving around in the darkness. We're at the crossroads and...wait...it's coming closer, whatever it is..."_

" _What is...what is that!?"_ Jackson screamed suddenly.

Blaster fire sounded.

"What is it?!" Seth yelled as he began sprinting towards the entrance to the basement. "Report, dammit! What is it!?"

Nothing but more blaster fire and then Jackson screaming.

Abruptly the signal was cut.

Seth caught sight of Jensen and Spalding as he barreled past the mess, and they joined him without a word.

He forced himself on faster.

Nova was down there.


	29. Chapter 29: Into the Dark

There was no more blaster fire coming from the basement as Seth rushed down the stairs. He nearly fell twice. As he reached the bottom, his radio finally crackled to life.

" _Seth, we've got a situation here,"_ Nova said, her voice coming through a haze of static.

"Where are you?" he replied, taking a few seconds to orient himself, then began sprinting down the appropriate corridor.

" _In the reactor bay."_

"I'm almost there. Are you safe?"

" _Yes. Be careful. Something's out there."_

The other two followed him closely. He couldn't see anything in the passageway with them, but there was definitely blood on the floor. A trail of it was leading from the gloom down the way into one of the closed doors. He skidded to a halt and flicked on his flashlight, then played the beam down the dark corridor. Just more metal, more walls, more of the blood trail. Right as he began to turn away, Seth thought he saw something shift at the edge of the light. He refocused the light, watching, but nothing else came and he reluctantly wrote it off as a trick of the light.

"We're here, there's nothing out here," he said, knocking on the door.

A few seconds later it opened up and the three of them came in. Nova closed it behind them. They'd come to the heat sync room, which wasn't particularly large. It was stuffed full of machinery and equipment, leaving little room for the others. Seth could see the job Kato had started. A panel was removed and he could see into the electronic guts of the machinery, and a small collection of tools sat on the floor.

Presently, Kato was crouched over an injured Weston. She had a nasty gash down one of her legs and had bled heavily, though it looked like Kato had stopped the worst of it.

"What happened?" Jennings asked.

"Something out there," Weston replied, sounding strained. "I think it got Jackson. I tried to go after them, but one of them got me bad."

"I'll handle it," Seth said. He almost whirled back around and walked right out there, but he remembered that he had lead on this mission. He looked at Jensen for a moment, then looked over at Kato. "Kato, get back to work. Nova, take over for her. Jensen, Spalding, you're on guard duty outside the door."

"What are you doing?" Nova asked.

"I'm going to find Jackson," Seth replied. He turned to face the door.

"Seth, no," Nova said firmly. He looked back. Kato was halfway in between Weston and the open panel, glancing back at Nova uncertainly.

"Nova-" he began.

"Seth, whatever is out there, it's extremely dangerous."

"She's right," Weston said, then winced.

Seth sighed, then glanced at Jensen and Spalding. "Jensen, you're with me. Spalding, you've got door duty. Nova, as soon as you're done patching up Weston, join him. Kato, grab the stuff you need as fast as possible."

Kato responded affirmatively in a clipped tone, she was already back to work, crouched in front of the open panel. Nova nodded tightly and moved over to Weston.

"Let's go," Seth said to Jensen.

"Yep," he replied, clearly eager to get out there and find his missing trooper. Seth felt his pain. They stepped out of the room back into the hallway, clearing it again. Still nothing, though he thought he heard something coming from the way yet gone.

"Wait right here," Seth said to Spalding, who nodded.

They left him standing with his blaster rifle, then began to make their way slowly down the passageway. Both men shined their flashlights ahead of them. Nothing but a cold chromium corridor. Seth made slow progress down the passageway, eyes wide, listening intently for anything at all. After what felt like a long time, they reached the junction. He looked around, down all three of the other corridors. Two were clear, but the third…

"Oh no," Jensen whispered.

Seth began to move forward, shining his light on an unmoving and very bloody form. Some of the doors farther down the way were open. He watched them carefully, dividing his attention between Jackson's unmoving form and the dark openings. He reached Jackson without incident, and quickly realized the truth.

"He's dead," Seth said flatly.

His neck had been torn out, jugular severed, and one of his arms and half a leg were also missing. It looked like they'd been...severed. Chopped off.

"What did this?" Jensen asked, a cold fury in his voice.

"I have no idea..." Seth hesitated as something chittered nearby. "But I get the feeling that we're about to find out."

Both men aimed their weapons, beams of light pushing back the shadows of the dead corridor ahead of them. Something was moving. Something was coming closer. It obviously was not Sith they were dealing with. A high clacking sound came to them. It was rapid, like many legs tipped with steel tapping across the metal floor.

And then something stepped out into the corridor.

Seth felt a sharp dark fear shoot coldly through his body as he zeroed his sights on what he saw. It was some kind of...giant bug. It vaguely resembled a spider, only it was covered in black fur, and had a cluster of blue glowing eyes on stalks sticking out of its head. Two appendages stuck out of its sides, and they ended in razor sharp claws.

"What is that?!" Jensen snapped.

"Dead," Seth replied, and opened fire.

Jensen joined him. Both of them hosed the thing down with searing hot blaster fire that sliced through the air and carved the awful beast up. It shrieked madly as its dark purple blood sprayed across the walls, floor, and ceiling. With a thump, it fell to the floor. They waited a few seconds, then Seth muttered for Jensen to cover him and slung his rifle. He knelt and scooped up what was left of Jackson, then straightened back up.

"Let's move," he said.

Jensen nodded and they started back to the crossroads. Seth felt his nerves jumping and sparking badly. Now that he knew not only that something was down here, but _what_ was down here, he suspected every shadow, every potential opening, everywhere he wasn't looking. They made it to the crossroads, then began hurrying back to where Spalding stood.

"What happened?!" he asked. Seth began to respond, but then the man's eyes grew wide. "Behind you!"

Both Seth and Jensen looked back and saw another pair of the creatures advancing rapidly on them from the shadows beyond the crossroad's threshold, coming into view. He cursed and prepared to drop Jackson's body, but Jensen was already on it. He blasted one of their heads off with a charged up shot, and gunned down the other with a hail of blaster fire. No others came out of the shadows. For now. Behind them, a door opened.

Seth turned back and saw Nova stepping out.

"What happened?!" she called.

The pair hurried back.

"Oh no..." Spalding moaned.

"Holy crap," Nova whispered as she saw Jackson's corpse.

"Something's infesting the base," Seth replied, stepping in. Nova followed him in, and Jensen lingered in the doorway with Spalding to keep watch. "Kato, where are we with those parts?"

"Almost done, another minute," she replied, sounding distracted.

Seth sighed and nodded. He set Jackson's remains down and looked at Weston. "How are you?" he asked.

"I'll live. I can pilot," she replied. "But I'll need help getting there."

He nodded. Finally, Kato announced that she was done, and hastily began packing up her gear. She pushed the crate of supplies she'd salvaged over towards Seth and Nova. "That's everything," she said as she packed the tools away and then snapped her kit closed.

"Okay. Spalding," Seth grabbed the crate and passed it to the young soldier, "you've got that. Kato, help Weston. Jensen, get Jackson's body. Nova, go with them-"

"What are you going to do?!" Nova demanded.

"We need that kolto," he replied. "I'll grab what I can and follow you out."

"Seth, I am coming with you," Nova said, staring hard at him. He stared back at her, wanting to argue, but he could tell she wasn't going to back down from this. And, to be completely honest, he _really_ didn't want to go back into that nightmare alone.

"Fine," he said. "Everyone, get out now. Once you get your loads to the ship, Spalding, Kato, and Jensen, come back and grab as much as you can from where we piled up supplies at the main entrance. We need to do this fast. Weston, get that ship spooled up and ready for launch. Nova and I will be up as fast as we can."

"Understood," Jensen said. He scooped up Jackson's remains. "Let's go, people!"

They grabbed what was necessary and headed back out into the main hall. Seth and Nova watched them go, then turned their attention back to the dark unknown. Again, he could hear and see nothing, beyond the corpses Jensen had made, but he could feel the base beginning to seethe with life. They were going to have to do this fast.

"Come on," Seth said, and set off at a brisk pace.

Nova kept up with him, her blaster rifle humming with power. He set his to overcharge and stepped into the crossroads section. After clearing all three passageways, he and Nova hurried down the right one, hunting frantically for the storage room that he had pointed out to them earlier. He scanned each in passing, wanting to be out of here more and more with every second. Finally, he had it, the proper storage room.

"Wait here," he said, his voice strained and harsh.

Nova nodded tightly, standing guard, her own movements fast and tense. Seth stepped up to a door with **STORAGE 23** painted over it in blocky, decaying alphanumerics. He hit the access button, then cursed softly when the door didn't open. Letting his rifle hang, he found the manual override and hit it, then pried the door open and peered inside. The room beyond was small, and mostly empty. But...there! On one of a pair of basic metal shelves were two small, unmarked crates that looked oddly out of place. It had to be them.

He hurried over to them and pried one open. Vindication: there was a good supply of kolto pouches. Seth considered it for a moment. They couldn't safely carry these crates _and_ defend themselves on the run. They were pushing their luck as it was right now. He came to a decision and started stuffing the pouches in his pockets.

"Nova, get in here," he hissed.

She was at his side in a few seconds. "You found them?"

"Yes. Pockets. Now."

"Got it."

He finished up and then took up watch while she repeated his actions. Between the two of them, they managed to empty both crates, and, after a quick check, confirmed that this was the entire supply of kolto in the area.

"Let's get out of here," Nova said.

Seth nodded in hearty agreement and led the way back out into the corridor, then down it, hurrying back towards the crossroads section. As he reached it and took another look around, he froze as he saw movement.

"We've got hostiles," he said, raising his rifle. There were three of them, coming at them from down the same corridor they'd found Jackson's corpse in. Nova cursed and joined him as he fired off his overcharged shot. It nailed the one in the center, killing it and spraying the others with its viscera. That only seemed to enrage them and they took off, scurrying down the corridor as they began shrieking wildly.

Nova opened fire, hosing one of them down with a concentrated array of blaster fire, and Seth managed to get off a second overcharged shot. Both of them went down before they could reach the crossroads section. But already they could hear more coming.

"Let's go," he said, charging up another shot.

They began sprinting back the way they'd come. As they passed the reactor and then the thermal bay, Seth heard more of them coming. A lot more. They ran on, pushing themselves as hard as they could, muscles burning, boots pounding, echoing down the lonely corridors. Finally, they reached the stairwell that led up to the surface.

Seth spun around and fired almost without aiming. He hit another one of the awful dark creatures, killing it, but there were easily a dozen of them now. He cursed harshly and primed a grenade, then hurled it towards them. Then he spun back around and sprinted up the stairs after Nova, who had smartly not stopped. He barely managed to reach the top as the grenade went off and a chorus of shrieks echoed up after them. Seth primed and tossed another grenade over his shoulder, back down the stairs, listening to it bang repeatedly as it went down the steps, since he knew he wasn't going to be able to close the door behind them.

They made it down the hallway they were in before the second explosion went off. And he could hear more of them coming. He and Nova ran until they'd come to the maintenance bay that the squad had initially entered through. The far door opened as they entered the bay. He saw Kato, Jensen, and Spalding coming in through a swirl of snow.

"Do we have time?" Jensen asked as he caught sight of them.

"Grab what you can and run," Seth replied, and he whirled around to provide cover. Nova joined him. The pair guarded the door while the trio did exactly that. Seth wasn't sure if more were coming, but he wasn't taking any chances. They waited until Jensen yelled 'Clear!', and then they abandoned their posts, hurrying back out of the base and into the snowstorm. And there they ran with the others until they reached their ship.

* * *

"Hey...you doing okay?" Nova asked.

Seth stirred from the half-doze he'd slipped into, inhaling and shifting. "Uh...yeah. I'm okay. How about you?"

"You were going to sleep. I'm sorry," Nova murmured.

"No, it's fine," he replied, shifting more and curling up against her beneath the blankets. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Just...thinking."

"What about?"

She fell silent, maybe considering how to word it, or if she should even tell him.

At the moment, Seth felt good. For the most part. After they had made it back to the ship, he'd checked on everyone, made sure they were okay, dropped off the kolto in his infirmary, and then, as they'd started flying back, told Jensen in no uncertain terms that unless it was an emergency, don't bother him or Nova. Then he'd gone back with her to their quarters, stripped, showered, and had sex. Twice. Once in the shower, once in the bed. Then he'd popped some painkillers and downed a bottle of water, and the pair of them had been laying there together ever since, just relaxing.

His body was hurting, but the aches were distant now, soothed by the painkillers and the lovemaking and the comforting warmth of the bed. He knew he still wasn't fully healed from his experiences on Taris and then Dantooine. And although Maya had done a stellar job healing him up, he knew that he simply needed rest. But he wasn't going to get it, not in the quantities that he needed to fully heal up. But that was nothing new. He'd been sore for years now, honestly. But someday, he was going to take a real vacation and actually rest.

"I guess I'm just kind of afraid," Nova said finally.

"Of what? I mean, I don't blame you, that was crazy," he replied.

"Not of that. I mean yeah, those things were really scary. That whole situation was. But...I'm a little scared of where this is going."

"Why? What about it?"

"You...I don't know, Seth. You're good. Like, really good. A great person. That's hard to find, or it has been for me for a long time. I mean, Yex and Seri are great. They're practically saints. But I also feel like they don't really have...a dark past they're running from, you know? It's one thing to be great, it's another thing to have once been terrible, and now strive to be great. And I'm not trying to say anything bad about you. I just...based on some of what you told me and some of the stuff you've done during our time together, I just get the feeling that you weren't really born great. You're trying to _be_ great, despite some dark tendencies and maybe a dark past."

"You aren't wrong," he murmured.

"And you know my past now. I've done awful things. And I'm not trying to say you're as bad as I was, but I feel...connected to you, because we're both coming from a bad place, trying to be better than we were. And that connection, the amount I trust you, it scares me, because I haven't trusted someone this much in a long time. And that's scary. And I'm not saying I think you're going to betray me or something..." She sighed.

"Nova, it's okay. Really. I do actually get it. I understand what you're saying. And I know how you feel. I'm scared too."

"What are you scared of?"

"That you'll die."

"Oh. Well...that _would_ be pretty scary. I guess I'm scared of that, too. That you'll die. But...I guess that's the price of investing in someone. You have to make yourself vulnerable."

"Pain has to be on the table when you care," Seth said.

She nodded slowly. "It does," she murmured. "I hate that, but...you might as well hate life. And I _do_ care about you, but...does it make me a terrible person if I'm still afraid to commit to anything beyond this mission we're on?"

"No," he replied. "I still respect our agreement, and I'm not going to be difficult. I'm not going to demand more, I'm not going to spring anything on you. If our relationship continues or grows into something more, it will be with both of us openly and willingly doing it. But if it makes you feel better, although I'm willing to have you in my life a lot more, I am also nervous about what may come after this. I mean, I'll have to go back to the Army when this is over, I imagine. There's still going to be a war on, and this bizarre, interesting circumstance we find ourselves in can't last forever. So that alone will make it difficult. But even on top of that, I've gotten used to being largely alone..."

"I have too," she murmured. "I don't know if I can go back. Or, if I even want to." She sighed. "Ugh, I feel awful saying that."

"It's okay, I know how you feel. We're loners. We don't do relationships well. But I'm glad we're talking about this."

"Me too."

"So basically, I figure we keep on the current course. We finish this out, then figure out where to go from there."

"Sounds good to me. And in the meantime, enjoy each other as much as possible," she said, grinning at him.

"Yes. That. Definitely that," he agreed.

She leaned in and kissed him, and he kissed her back, and they would have continued if it wasn't for the wall-mounted comm unit chiming, indicating an incoming call. Seth groaned and Nova sighed explosively.

He reached over and hit it. "Yeah?"

" _Seth? Are you and Nova okay?"_ It was Seri.

"We're okay, Seri. Is everything okay on your end?" he replied.

" _Yes. We received that shipment of kolto the two of you liberated from the base, as well as the parts for the thermal unit. Yex is installing them now."_

Seth blinked in surprise. They must have landed while they'd been doing it a second time. Well, at least they'd taken him at his word and not bothered him. He wondered if anyone was actually still onboard besides the two of them.

"That's great. How's the base?"

" _It's okay, but the man in charge wants to talk to you and Nova. He says it's urgent. Another mission has come up."_

Seth sighed softly. "We'll be right there."


	30. Chapter 30: Snowblind

Seth kept trying to tell himself to quit being such a pushover and wake up as he stalked across the landing pads. There was a relative lull in the storm right now and he could actually see the base ahead of him without the assistance of the guidance poles, which were each topped with a brilliant blue light. But he was exhausted. He again tried telling himself that he needed to get over it. He'd had plenty of time to rest up on the ride over, and so far he'd just seen a battle and a run-in with a hostile species of bugs. For most soldiers it'd probably be a lot, but he'd been doing this crap for over a decade. That shouldn't even count as overtime.

But he knew that the cold was sapping his strength, and more than that, perhaps most importantly of all: he wasn't done healing. His body wasn't working properly, and he needed that damned rest. But rest wasn't an option right now. He was going to have to find some kind of alternative. But for now, he needed to find out what the big deal was. He and Nova finished crossing the landing pads and marched into the base. The place was still busy. They'd come into a side hangar where two dozen people were going over two land rovers with mounted blaster cannons in the back and a troop transport, all of them talking or working furiously, almost frantically. Sparks bled from where they fixed up the hulls or repaired machinery.

They crossed the bay and came to a hallway where a young soldier who looked barely out of his teens ran straight into Seth and bounced right off of him. He yelped in surprise, nearly fell over, bumped into someone else, apologized, then straightened up and looked back at Seth. "Are you Sergeant Kast?"

"Yes, I am," Seth replied.

"Oh thank the Force," he muttered. "Please, Staff Sergeant Fielding needs to speak with you. It's urgent. Follow me."

With that, he turned and hurried off down the large corridor, through the shifting mass of base personnel. Seth and Nova followed. They moved quickly through the base, threading their way through the crowd of soldiers, technicians, medics, and other random base personnel, until finally they came to an office. It was empty save for a desk and two chairs. The desk was huge and littered with datapads, empty cups and plates, and a random assortment of other things. Fielding sat behind it, staring with bloodshot, bleary eyes into a terminal. He waved them in without looking at them, eyes rapidly going back and forth, then typed something rapidly into the terminal for half a minute, and finally sat back in his chair and sighed heavily.

"I just got done reading the report. Thank you _very_ much for the help. That kolto is going to literally save lives. And Kato and her work crew are getting those thermal units back online as we speak," he said.

"You're welcome. What's happening?" Seth replied.

"After she helped stabilize as many of the injured as she could, I asked Maya if she could and would be willing to use the Force to help us locate a supply shuttle that was shot down recently. She did. We have a location right now and we're putting together a strike team to get out there, grab the gear, and get back. We think Sith might be in the area, but we can't be sure. The weather is acting up bad in that region. I want you two leading the charge."

Seth nodded. "Okay. How many are coming with us?"

"A dozen, including Jensen, Spalding, and your ithorian technician. I want him to try and pull the power core from the ship if at all possible. We could really use it."

"All right. Where's Maya? And Seri?"

"Seri is helping distribute the kolto to those who need it. Maya...passed out."

"She what?" Nova asked, sitting forward.

"From what I gathered, she pushed herself past the point of exhaustion using the Force to heal people and help us find the downed shuttle," Fielding replied, a little sheepishly.

Seth sighed, but he would've done the same thing, he supposed. "Fine. We'll be taking our own ship, I imagine?"

"That would be ideal. Unfortunately we've only got two shuttles. One is being worked on and the other is out rescuing a recon team," Fielding replied.

"Fine. Send them to our ship. Nova and I will be along shortly."

"Understood. Thanks again. This is a huge help," Fielding said.

"Yep."

The pair stood and left the room. "Where are we going?" Nova asked.

"Find Seri," he replied.

He still remembered where the infirmary was from when he'd helped bring a few of the injured in from that initial skirmish. They navigated the faded metal corridors of the repurposed base, and a few moments later tracked down Seri. She and a trio of other medics were tending to a packed infirmary. Every examination table and patient bed was taken up. They moved down the row to where she was applying kolto to an unconscious soldier who looked like she'd taken a shot to the gut and another to her leg.

"Oh! Seth, Nova," Seri said as she noticed their approach, "how are you? How did it go?"

"It was terrifying," Seth replied. "We ran into giant bug monsters. But we got the supplies. And this kolto."

"Oh...that's horrible. I'm sorry. But thank you for this kolto. Genuinely. This is helping so much," she said as she kept working.

"So I've heard. Have you seen Maya recently? We heard she passed out."

"Yes. I slipped away fifteen minutes ago to check on her. She's asleep in one of the medic's quarters down the hall. I think the person they belonged to passed away. Don't worry, she's going to be okay. She just needs sleep."

"Okay, good," Seth murmured. "Well, we have to head back out. Yex is coming with us. We're going to come back with that lost shipment of supplies, ideally."

" _Please_ be careful. I'm so scared you're going to go out and not come back," Seri replied.

"We'll be as careful as we can under the circumstances," Nova said.

They began to leave, but Seri told them to wait. She quickly finished her work, patched the unconscious woman up, and then washed her hands. Then she moved over and gave each of them a short but firm hug. Seth hugged her back, and felt a little better. Hugs were good. Hugs from friends were better.

And by now, Seri was a friend.

"Good luck out there," she said.

"You too," Seth replied.

As they headed out, he stopped to grab an adrenal stimulant and injected himself with a half-dose. It would serve as a wake-up call at least, though he'd feel like crap later. It was a habit he picked up from time to time, not one he wanted to, more born of necessity than anything else. But it got the job done.

"Let's go," he said, and Nova followed him back out into the base.

* * *

They got there just behind their fresh squad of soldiers and Yex.

Everyone gathered in the main hold, except for the pilot, who Seth sent on ahead to the cockpit. Then he addressed the squad that was now under his command. Well, first he addressed Jensen, since he would have the relevant information.

"You got a blueprint of this shuttle we're hitting?" he asked.

"Uh...yeah," Jensen replied, reaching into one of his pockets. Seth studied the others as he waited for the blueprint. Most of them looked like Spalding: young, anxious, afraid. Some of them didn't even have blaster rifles, they were just armed with pistols. Jensen got out the datapad and passed it over to Seth.

"Why doesn't everyone have rifles?" he asked, accepting the pad.

Jensen surveyed the soldiers, then sighed. "Not enough to go around. There might be another attack on the base."

"Listen up!" Seth called. "Anyone who doesn't have a rifle, go down that hall, to the armory. Grab a rifle. Double-time it back here."

Five of them broke off quickly and disappeared down the passageway.

"Thanks," Jensen murmured.

"Yeah. What a nightmare," Seth muttered in reply, then began studying the datapad. "Where'd it go down?" he asked as he checked the layout.

"A valley about twenty minutes away," Jensen replied.

"Weather?"

"Bad right now."

"How'd you find it?"

"From what I understand, your Jedi friend used the Force to get its general location, which gave us an idea of where to look. We caught a lucky break and got a brief window through the storm to pinpoint it," Jensen explained.

"Hmm." By the time the others had returned from the armory, he had a plan. "All right, listen up! Plan of action, people. Quick introduction, in case anyone didn't know already, I'm Sergeant Kast. I've been with the Republic for over a decade now, fought through the whole Mandalorian Wars and all of this current nightmare we all find ourselves in. This is Yex. He's our resident tech genius. This is Nova. She's not Republic Army but she's tougher than I am and I trust her with my life. I'd advise you to do the same. This is going to be a very quick in and out mission. We're recovering cargo from a downed shuttle as fast as we can.

"We're going to load it up onto this ship and then get out of there. We now have no idea what might be waiting for us down there, unfortunately, but given the fact that the Sith are squatting on our territory and the local wildlife is none too friendly, I'd advise everyone to exercise extreme caution and expect the worst. Now, there's three ways into this place. Airlock to starboard, airlock to port, and cargo bay in the aft. You, you, and you, step away from the group," he said, pointing to three of the troopers.

They did as he said, stepping away, forming their own little group. "You three are Beta Squad. You get guard duty on the starboard side." He singled out three more and had them do the same. "You three are Gamma Squad. You get port guard duty. Now Yex, can you remove and transport the power core by yourself?"

" _I believe I can, but I will have to visually inspect the core to confirm this,_ " Yex replied.

"Understood. Who speaks ithorian or can at least understand some?" he asked, looking around.

"I can," Jensen said.

"Good, you're with Yex. Watch his back and assist him however he needs. Now, everyone else, we get to be Alpha Squad. Our primary concern will be hauling the cargo as fast as possible. Everyone stays on the radio and you report anything you see. Now Jensen, go forward and make sure our pilot knows to land so that our cargo ramp is facing their cargo bay, and as close as possible. I want the most minimum distance possible for our job."

"Got it," Jensen replied, and headed to the cockpit.

"Now, if you all will excuse me," Seth said, patting his stomach, " _I_ need to go offload some cargo."

Some of them laughed at least. He headed off to his and Nova's quarters, feeling a little weird about lying. But that's how it went sometimes. He'd rather make a lame toilet joke than let them know that he was feeling anxious and needed to go freaking mediate. They needed to have confidence that he was confident. The better they felt about this whole thing, the better they'd perform. And, if he was being completely honest with himself, he _did_ still feel a little weird about admitting to people that he was mediating.

Seth got into his quarters, sat down on the floor in the pose that Maya had taught him, closed his eyes, and began to focus.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, he emerged from his quarters feeling a bit better. The adrenal stim had had more time to work and he'd taken a leak. The meditation...hadn't gone quite as well as he'd hoped. But he hadn't really had all that much time, to be honest. Nonetheless, it didn't matter. He had work to do. And in a way, that was comforting all its own. When battle was upon him and he had no choice, that kind of swept everything else aside and forced him to focus on the here and now. By the time he rejoined the squad, the ship was almost to its destination.

"All right, let's get ready!" Seth called after he got the two minute warning from the pilot.

They were gathered in the cargo bay, preparing to go outside. Seth looked slowly around the bay as he waited for the ship to finish its descent into the valley their shuttle had ended up in. Although he could tell where the damage had been repaired, he had to admit, they'd done a good job. And a fast one, too. The bay was mostly empty now, and it would likely be able to hold everything they were going to salvage from the wreckage.

As he looked at one particular spot on the bay wall, he had a momentarily flashback to almost getting sucked out into space, a perfectly framed shot of Taris, burning, a visage of absolute horror. Seth blinked and told himself to relax. The ship shuddered as the landing struts lowered. They were just about to land.

A few seconds after they landed, his radio chimed. _"Nothing out there, over,"_ the pilot reported to him.

"Perfect. Keep it spooled up and be ready to go at a moment's notice. Out."

" _Understood. Over."_

He marched over to the control panel and hit the button that opened up the loading ramp. As it began to descend, snow blew in through the opening on a frigid wind. "You've all got your assignments!" he called, looking at them all. "Let's get out there and make this happen as fast as we can!"

There were a string of affirmative replies.

The ramp finished lowering and Seth led the whole squad down it, sweeping the area beyond with his gaze, taking it all in. To his right was a sheer wall made of rock and ice. Behind him was nothing but snow and the occasional tree. Ahead was the wrecked shuttle. Well, the good news was that their own cargo ramp had been smashed open in the crash. That would make this easier. There was maybe sixty meters of space between the two ships.

A drift of snow and a layer of frost covered the interior of the cargo bay beyond. As they drew closer, Seth saw something that bugged his senses: a cave in the rock sheer that ran parallel to their current position. It was big and dark and could contain any number of things, and it was maybe about fifty meters in front of the wrecked shuttle. Right now though, there was nothing they could do about it but hope that either it was empty, or, if it wasn't, whatever was inside wouldn't come out. He saw Beta and Gamma Teams break off to the sides of the ship, securing their entry points. Good. They were all pretty well trained.

"Secure the area," he said as they came in through the rear of the shuttle.

The remaining soldiers headed onward and into the large bay, checking behind stacks of crates and plunging deeper into the ship. It wasn't particularly big, just a simple cargo shuttle. Probably about three quarters of its interior would be this big bay at its aft section. He moved in after them, then started checking out the crates. They were going to have to prioritize. As luck would have it, the two stacks nearest to the smashed open door all held food. Further on, he saw water, medicine, uniforms, spare parts, and finally weaponry.

"Beta and Gamma, anything to report?" he asked, waiting for the search to finish. Both came back negative. So far, so good. "Okay, Jensen, where would the reactor bay be?"

"Beneath this bay," Jensen replied.

"All right. Track it down, stay wary, and get that power core out," Seth said. Both Jensen and Yex responded affirmatively and headed off, hunting for the entrance to the reactor bay. Seth was extremely grateful to see that, despite the hard landing, almost all the stacks had remained intact. The crash webbing and straps meant to hold them in place had really done its job. By the time the soldiers had finished searching the ship for hostiles and reported back to him, he had the webbing and straps undone from the nearest two stacks.

"All right, listen up! You," he said, pointing to one of the soldiers, "get guard duty. Stand at the back and make sure nothing gets the drop on us. Everyone else, we're getting this cargo over to my ship as fast as we can. Make sure you stack it proper, like it's stacked here, so that we can strap it down before we take off. Food first, then medicine, then weapons. If we have time after that, tech parts, then water, then uniforms. Go!"

They descended on the first stack, and Seth lost the next stretch of time to hustling crates through the cold between ships. He moved as fast as he could, feeling the press of time. It was entirely possible that no one and nothing would bother them the entire time they were there. They might get this whole job done with ease. Or, a bunch of Sith or native creatures might show up and try to murder them. It made the most sense to act like that second thing was going to happen, so that they got as much done as fast as possible.

The first stack disappeared.

Then the second stack disappeared, and the food was gone. He stayed behind briefly, bringing the cargo straps he'd dislodged to lock the sacks into place on his own vessel, then hustled back to keep on helping them.

" _Seth, I have located the power core. It is undamaged. I will be able to remove and transport it by myself,"_ Yex reported as they dug into the twin stacks of medical crates.

"Perfect," he said between breaths, grabbing a crate and hurrying out of the ship, back into the cold. "How long?"

" _Approximately thirty minutes."_

"Good."

More time passed. The first stack of medical crates disappeared into his ship, and then the second. Seth sent them back over to start in on the weapons and began the process of strapping the two new stacks down. Right as he finished, his radio crackled.

" _Sergeant Kast, we have a problem. Over."_ It was the pilot.

"What is it?" Seth replied, his heart skipping a beat. "Over."

" _We've got an inbound vessel coming from the north, power signature registers as Sith. Over."_

"How long? Over."

" _They'll be on us in five minutes. Over."_

"Crap. Understood. Out."

Seth stood frozen for almost ten seconds, thinking furiously, throwing together a plan in his mind, then he started sprinting back to the ship. "We've got incoming hostiles! Sith coming from the north, one ship, five minutes out! Who's best with sniping?"

" _I'm good at it,"_ Jensen said.

" _I'm a sniper,"_ came another voice.

"Fine. Jensen, get up here. I want you two to climb on top of the shuttle and provide overwatch. Keep an eye on them. Beta and Gamma, get back to the cargo bay now and help with the transfer. You," he said, pointing to the rear guard he'd posted, "and you and you," he waved another pair of soldiers who were preparing to grab more crates over, "I want you three focusing on getting those tech part crates over. Everyone else, focus on getting the weapons. We'll go for as long as we can, then we'll get out of here."

They all responded affirmatively. Seth checked his chronometer. It had been almost thirty minutes since Yex's pronouncement.

"Yex, where are we with the core?" he asked.

" _I regret to inform you that I have encountered a complication. I need an additional five minutes, I believe,"_ Yex replied.

"Aw crap, okay. Let me know as soon as you're done."

" _I will."_

Anxiety coursing through his veins, Seth grabbed a crate of weapons and began to haul ass back to his ship. At first, he thought they were probably going to be okay. But as he left his ship and began making his way back for another crate, he saw that the storm was picking back up. Visibility was getting cut down and the winds were blowing a lot harder. It became more difficult to get between the ships. He forced himself on regardless, and managed to make two more trips before he heard Jensen over the radio. _"I've got a contact! They're landing now! Over."_

Seth swore and grabbed his rifle. "Everyone grab one more crate and then get back to the ship and stay there!"

"Seth, I'm coming with you," Nova said, stepping up to him.

"No, I need you here with them, to make sure this stuff gets out of here." She began to respond but he cut her off. "No, Nova. This time it's my turn to win the argument. Go with them."

She stared hard at him and he stared back at her. Finally, she sighed in frustration. "Just come back to me."

"I will."

He kissed her and began to make his way around the side of the crashed ship. "What do you see, Jensen!? Over."

" _There's two ships! Both troop transports! Probably a good thirty troopers per ship! Over!"_

"Two?!" Seth swore again. They must have been flying in tight formation and likely the weather had been masking their signals as well, making them look like one. Damn. This was getting even worse. "Okay, we let them get halfway across, then open fire and take out as many as we can. Once Yex is clear with the core, we retreat and get out of here."

" _Got it,"_ Jensen replied.

Seth kept going until he was at the front of the ship. He crouched in its shadow, activating the zoom function on his blaster rifle, then hitting the body heat sensor. They'd almost certainly have the same thing, but maybe the fact that they'd been outside for however long would help them a little bit. He could hear the engines now, screaming over the winds, and managed to just catch the outlines of the ships and the flare of their engines as they landed. Within half a minute, shapes began to appear. He could barely see them, and they just appeared as red humanoid blobs through his filter, but he could imagine them in their armor.

There were a lot of them, dozens.

Seth waited, each second passing by like a blaster bolt through his gut. Waiting was torment. But finally, they were about halfway across, and that was as good as it was going to get. He'd been zeroing his sights on the head of the one leading them, and now he squeezed the trigger. The sniper shot was good, punching right through the bastard's skull and dropping him. Two more shots rang out on the heels of his, and they all immediately began searching for more targets.

"We have engaged," Seth said over the radio.

" _Do you need backup? Over,"_ one of the soldiers replied over the radio, sounding anxious. No doubt they were wanting to engage the Sith as well. He knew he'd hate to be back there on guard duty. But he didn't want to risk any more of them than he had to.

"Negative, hold position," he replied, firing again and again.

The Sith quickly scrambled. Some sought cover, some zig-zagged as well as they could through the storm, racing closer, most returned fire. Seth popped three, then four, then five. Then a blaster bolt struck him in the chest and knocked him down. And then something exploded nearby. He struggled to his feet just in time for another explosion. They were throwing grenades. Oh crap. And they were getting closer now. He kept firing.

"Yex, where are we with that core?!"

" _I am now finished. I am leaving,"_ Yex replied after a few seconds.

"Good, let's get out of here! Jensen-"

He was cut off as he heard Jensen let out a startled shout, and suddenly an explosion came from above him, rocking the ship. "Jensen!? _Jensen!?_ " He heard garbled sounds over the radio, then suddenly Jensen screaming. "Jensen, talk to me!" Seth yelled as he kept firing, trying desperately to keep the Sith at bay as they advanced.

" _Dammit!"_ Jensen snapped. _"They got a grenade onto the roof! Masters is gone! I jumped over the side...broke my leg!"_

"Port or starboard!?" Seth replied.

" _Port!"_

"Damn," Seth hissed. Opposite his current position. He'd have to go all the way around the nose of the ship, right into their line of fire, to have any hope of getting there in time.

" _Just get out of here!"_ Jensen snapped.

"Negative," Seth replied. He primed and threw all the grenades he had on him at the advancing wave of Sith soldiers, then, as they began detonating, he started kicking his way through the snow as hard and as fast as he could. Amidst the confusion, he managed to get around the cockpit, but as he started making his way towards Jensen's position, the blaster fire picked back up. Seth forced himself onward.

No way he was leaving him behind. "Yex, where are you?!"

" _I am leaving the cargo bay now. Do you require assistance?"_

"No, get back to the _Dauntless_!" Seth replied.

A brief hesitation, then: _"Understood."_

Feeling a bit like a hypocrite as he moved through a rain of blaster fire, Seth hoped against hope that he was going to make it. Just had to grab Jensen and somehow make it out of this mess. He scoped out the battlefield again and his hopes began to dwindle. There were easily twenty or thirty of them now. He could see them more clearly as a lull in the storm came, opening up visibility again, which meant they could see him pretty clearly too. Great. He hurried around the side, feeling a few blaster bolts nail him in the back, and saw Jensen. The man was sitting on the ground, back to the hull of the downed shuttle.

There was blood seeping out of his uniform, from around his armor on his right leg.

"Dammit, I said get out of here!" he snapped.

"Well I'm already here," Seth replied as he approached. Turning around he opened fire, spraying the area down with blaster fire.

Then an overcharged shot came out of nowhere and hit him right in the chest. He cried out, the breath driven from his lungs as he was thrown off his feet, landing hard on his back. As he struggled for air and to get back up, a new figure appeared over him and began to open fire.

"Dammit, Nova!" he wheezed as he lurched to his feet. "I told you-"

"Shut up and get him!" Nova snapped.

He cursed and began trying to help Jensen up. More blaster fire rained down on them, a lot more, and Seth knew they weren't going to make it. Nova cried out in pain, and a few more bolts hit his armor, some burning as they nearly got through, and then, suddenly, a new voice screamed. Seth twisted and looked back.

One of the Sith was screaming. The blaster fire began to diminish, and then another voice was screaming. And then the blaster fire suddenly picked back up, only now it was being fired in new directions. Seth began to see shapes moving among the Sith.

"What the...what are those?" Jensen asked.

"A shot of good luck," Seth replied, and he crouched and got Jensen fully to his feet. The man screamed, but stayed upright, leaning heavily on him.

"Let's go while we can!" Nova snapped.

She helped Seth support Jensen and the three of them began hobbling through the snow in the shadow of the downed ship. Behind them, the Sith continued to scream and fight and die against whatever local wildlife they had gained the ire of. They had to have come out of that cave Seth had seen earlier. Well, talk about luck.

Several of the soldiers were waiting for them at the bottom of the ramp, and three of them came out and took Jensen from Seth and Nova's grasp, then carried him onboard. Gasping for breath, struggling not to pass out now as he felt his already overtaxed body becoming overwhelmed, Seth managed to get onboard. As soon as he confirmed that they were all safely on his ship, he hit the close button.

"Go!" he called to the pilot, and the ship immediately began to lift off.

He sat down heavily, fell down really, as the ship moved, and put his back to the nearest wall, just trying to get his breath back. Nova sat down beside him.

"I told you-" he began.

"I figured it would be easier to help you if I didn't let you know I was going to help you," Nova replied.

He sighed. "You could've gotten yourself killed."

"So could you, you ungrateful ass!"

He sighed again, more heavily, then rested his head against the gently vibrating wall and closed his eyes. "Thank you," he muttered finally.

"You're welcome," she replied, and leaned against him.

He put an arm around her and they sat there together as they flew back to the base.


	31. Chapter 31: On the Hunt

Seth opened his eyes.

He was strapped down to a table, and a deathly pale man with glowing blood-red eyes was leaning over him. His face was an impassive mask of vague concentration, perhaps holding a hint of curiosity, and somehow that was worse. Worse than if the face held anger, or even glee at what was to come next. Because Seth knew what was to come next. No matter how many times he had sought to forget, he knew exactly what came next. It was like they were both engaged in an eternal play, always reading from the same script. And somehow, maddened glee would have been better than detached curiosity and mild interest.

"Now," the man said, as he straightened up, "let us begin."

Seth swallowed and closed his eyes. He wanted to be somewhere else. He wanted to be anywhere else but this enclosed space, this damp room that smelled of mold and blood. This next part was one of the worst and-

"Seth."

He opened his eyes and, through a haze of disoriented lethargy, saw Nova looking down at him, her beautiful face twisted in concern.

"What?" he replied softly.

"You were having a nightmare," she said. "Are you okay?"

He tried to say _I'm fine_ , but it didn't come out. He just said "I-" and shuddered violently as the surge of terror and nausea and fury came over him like a wave and he rolled over away from her, hugging himself fiercely.

"Seth?" she asked, now more concerned.

"Need a minute," he replied tightly.

He waited for it to pass, and it did, and he took and released a deep, shuddering breath, then he slowly rolled over and hugged her to him. She hugged him back.

"I'm sorry," he said. "Nightmare."

Several seconds passed. "Do you want to talk about it?"

He almost said _No_ or _not right now_ reflexively, but a part of him thought that it would be unkind to pass her offer out of hand so thoughtlessly. She was offering to listen, to really listen, and he didn't get many offers like that. There were people who asked him that before, but he could tell, or suspected at least, that either it was the vaguely benign attempt at comfort most people would give out of a semi-universal sense of compassion when seeing someone in pain, or, if they were more genuine, they wouldn't be able to handle it.

Not that he dismissed offers of even simple kindness, or tried not to.

But Nova did care, genuinely care, and she could handle it, he thought.

In this instance though, either he didn't feel capable of talking about it yet or he didn't want to unload that on her. Probably a bit of both.

"Not yet," he said finally.

She hesitated, then she rubbed a hand across his broad back. "Okay," she whispered. "If and when you are ready, tell me, I'll listen."

"Okay." He paused. "Thank you. Really."

"You're welcome."

He laid there holding her for a little while longer, then slowly released her, feeling calmer. Having someone in bed who actually cared...that was something he'd forgotten about. And now that he was more awake and less terrified, thoughts began slipping into his skull. Namely, he wondered and worried about the state of the world around him. After getting back to the base, he'd regained some of his stamina and the shot of stimulant hadn't really worn off yet, so he and Nova and Yex had gone back into the outpost to offer some more assistance.

Yex had dived back into work immediately, as there was a long list of things that needed fixing, replacing, or basic maintenance around the outpost, and he was pretty much a savant at tech, so he could do jobs, alone, faster, and better than most people could do with help. Nova had ended up helping, given her own knowledge of technical things, tackling a number of simpler jobs that needed doing. Seth had pretty much just offered himself up for basic manual labor. Among the myriad other things they were trying to do, the Republic soldiers here did actually intend to use this as a base long-term, so renovations were going on.

They needed help taking down walls, cleaning up rooms, and shifting cargo. Seth was good or at least decent at all those things so he whiled away four hours dismantling a bulkhead to break down what had been a pair of long-abandoned offices to prepare for conversion into what would become a briefing room, then he'd shifted cargo that had been unceremoniously shoved into a side bay off the main hangar the last time they had had a successful shipment so that other people could sort it out and get the non-crucial items to where they could be put to use. And, in the process, had discovered that someone had overlooked a shipment of spare technical parts and weapons parts and shoved it in with the clothes and bedding and building materials. And finally he'd just picked up trash and swept up in a few recently converted rooms.

By then, what passed for sunlight on Hoth had drained from the skies, and there was nothing but inky blackness beyond most of the windows. The only light offered was that of the burning blue light poles outside, meant to act as guidance in a blizzard, and a few of the exterior work-lights that were on for the sake of the poor bastards pulling guard duty and patrol out there. In the end, he and his entire crew had opted to return to the ship that had become their home. Yex was tired, though it was difficult to tell. Maya was still clearly out of it from using so much of the Force on top of everything else she'd done lately.

Seri was dead on her feet and she'd actually asked Seth to carry her to her bed. He'd glanced briefly at Nova, who had just given him a small smile, and he'd shrugged and scooped her up off her feet. At first he thought maybe she might've had another reason for asking, and maybe she had, but by the time he actually got her to her bed, she was straight-up passed out. So he'd laid her down as comfortably as he could, covered her up, turned out the light and left her to sleep. Maya had already disappeared into her own bedroom by the time he reemerged, and she'd looked pretty drained even after the nap she'd had today.

Yex bid them farewell and turned in for the night. Seth had done a check over of the ship, more out of routine paranoia than anything else, then locked it up and headed to the shower with Nova. All in all, it had been a productive and eventful, if exhausting day.

"What time is it?" he asked. Now he was wondering if anything had happened while he'd been out. He doubted it, the radio or an attack would have woken him up.

"Nine in the morning," Nova replied, checking the chronometer.

Seth grunted. That meant he'd have gotten close to ten hours of sleep. He still felt like crap, but less like crap than he had yesterday. He wanted to go back to sleep, but there was probably something that needed doing and he didn't like to idle for long. It made him feel guilty. And so he and Nova began their morning routine.

They had a quick round of fun in the shower, and then he sat on the floor and tried meditating. It went better this time. He noticed that it was much easier to center himself after an encounter with Nova. He meditated for forty five minutes, clearing his mind, relaxing his body, imagining his frustrations, his anxieties, his anger, his fear as flames and focusing on blowing them out mentally. It went okay, not great, but when he opened his eyes and left for breakfast, he did feel better, calmer. Calm was good.

He'd gone a long, long time without feeling calm.

He found Maya sitting in the central hold, a plate with the scattered remnants of a meal and an empty mug in front of her, as she studied a datapad. Seri sat next to her, still eating.

"Where's Yex?" Seth asked as he and Nova went for breakfast.

"Left me a message, he woke up a few hours ago and has gone back to work at the base making repairs," Maya replied.

"I don't know where he gets his energy from," Nova muttered.

"Ithorians traditionally need less sleep than most of us, I believe, and I'm convinced he has a touch of the Force," Maya replied. "It gathers around him somewhat more than it does the average person," she added.

"It would explain a few things," Seth murmured.

"What are we doing today?" Nova asked.

They finished gathering breakfast and sat down together on one of the couches, then dug in. After yesterday, Seth was starving.

"Hunting the terentatek," Maya said, setting the datapad down and sitting up straighter. "I believe I have found it, but it's hard to be sure."

"Why's that?" Seth asked.

"Normally it is easy to sense the Dark Side, especially in a dead place like this, but the Sith presence is kind of...in the same way the weather interferes with scans and radar, they are interfering with my ability to sense things. But I believe I have found it. I've been studying the scans and maps generated by the Republic. The storm has died down for now, so they ran some scans. They didn't detect any life signs, but that's not a surprise, given how difficult it can be to detect these things. It's about fifteen minutes from here," Maya explained.

"So we're going to go kill it? Just us?" Nova asked.

"I'm, uh, not going," Seri said. "I mean, I'm _going,_ just not helping with the hunt. I'll be here on the ship, in the likely event that someone gets hurt."

"That makes sense," Seth replied. He knew Seri wasn't a fighter. "So just the three of us?"

"No, although that's what I had thought. But I did ask for help from Fielding. Despite everything, he seemed reluctant to commit any troops to our cause."

"After everything we did for him?!" Nova snapped.

"He's in an unhappy position," Seth murmured, considering it. "This is a bad place, a hard land, and he's got dwindling troops and resources. We've stabilized the bleeding, so to speak, but he needs time to get his outfit back up to anything even approaching up to snuff. I'd be reluctant in his position too, to be honest."

Nova sighed but held her peace.

"He did, however, ask for volunteers. He got two."

"Oh?" Seth asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Sergeant Jensen and Private First Class Kato," Maya replied.

"PFC? Wasn't she a Private yesterday?" Seth asked.

"Yes. I'm guessing something necessitated or warranted a promotion."

"Probably all the death and the fact that she knows what she's doing. She hangs out here and survives long enough, she'll be a Corporal before too long," Seth murmured. "Well, they're both competent professionals."

"So you approve? This falls more under your expertise than my own," Maya said.

"Definitely. They'll be a great asset. I trust them," Seth replied. He'd gotten very good at spotting who knew what they were doing, who didn't, who was faking it, and who didn't realize they were faking it. Jensen and Kato were rock solid. He hadn't really seen Kato actually fight, and she was a tech, but no one in the Republic Army didn't know how to fight at least a little, and he believed that she'd be good at it. She wouldn't have volunteered if she wasn't, or at the very least, Jensen wouldn't let her on the mission if he didn't have faith in her.

"They'll be here shortly," Maya said. "Once they arrive, we'll fly out there."

"Who's going to pilot us?" Nova asked.

"PFC Kato is also a pilot, apparently," Maya replied.

"Huh. Nice."

Nova smirked and nudged him. "You like her, don't you?"

"I...respect her," Seth replied.

"That's an evasion if I ever heard one," Maya said.

Seth sighed. "Don't help her!"

"Answer the question," Seri said.

"Oh come on, now all of you are jumping on me?" he asked.

"Not yet," Nova said quietly with a smirk.

"What does _that_ mean?" he asked. She just kept smirking and drank from her mug. He sighed. "For the record, since you're all _so_ interested, yes, I'm attracted to her."

"Was that so hard?" Maya asked.

He sighed. "You take a perverse pleasure in teasing me," he said, looking around at them.

"I wouldn't call it _perverse,_ " Nova replied. "Just, you know, a small pleasure. Is it so bad? Would you rather not be in our company?"

"I didn't say that," he said.

"Finish getting ready, they'll be here soon," Maya said.

Seth looked at Nova, who still had that smirk, and then at Seri, who was concentrating firmly on her meal. He sighed and resumed eating.

* * *

Jensen and Kato arrived about twenty minutes later, decked out in combat and cold weather gear. Now that the conditions were less chaotic and he was better rested, Seth took the opportunity to really study Kato. She was definitely attractive, though in a way he thought that maybe not a lot of guys would immediately recognize. She was tall and trimly built, her skin dead pale. She had sharp cheek bones and cold, clear blue eyes. Her jet black hair was just long enough to be pulled into a tight, functional ponytail. She was clearly smart and brave, operating well under fire. If circumstances were different and he thought she was at all interested, he'd definitely hit on her and see if she might be into a one night stand or even a friends with benefits type situation. Although he couldn't see that really happening.

Then again, Nova was sleeping with him, and some surprisingly attractive women had agreed to go to bed with him in the past, so it always felt like a total dice roll. Which meant it technically made sense to ask if she was interested.

But he was with Nova right now, and the terms of their relationship weren't exactly closed...but they weren't exactly open either. He supposed the real question was, would it be a good idea? And he wasn't sure if he was in a proper state of mind to figure that out. So he just welcomed them aboard and pointed her towards the cockpit.

"I'll have us there soon," she said, and headed up that way.

He turned to face Jensen, sizing him up. He had about an average build for a soldier in the Republic nowadays. He was a few inches shorter than Seth was, in good shape, kind of an ideal balance between strength and speed.

"Let's talk," Seth said, nodding towards the armory.

"Okay," Jensen replied, and followed him.

Both men went into the armory. Seth grabbed his personal rifle that he'd been carrying through the missions so far and set it on one of the workbenches. Jensen, who had been carrying his own, now did the same. Both men began disassembling and cleaning their weapons.

"So, give me a rundown of your history," Seth said.

"All right. Grew up poor on a rim world that dealt mostly in mining. Lots of metal buried on my planet, lots of mines, lots of need for cheap labor. Laws were lax. I was an only child, mom and dad both worked for a company. Lived for the company, breathed for the company, that kind of crap. Dad ran the mining equipment, mom was a service rep. I went through company schooling, but I was pulling shifts and learning the trade by the time I was fourteen. Did that for eight years. Not long after I turned twenty two, my dad died in an industrial accident, and that...kind of woke my ass up. I'd seen people die before, come close to it myself, but working in a mine from the age of fourteen for approaching a decade kind of beats you down into a trance. But when my dad died, I don't know, it just woke me up. Made me realize."

"What did you realize?" Seth asked quietly. He was seeing at least a few parallels between the two of them.

"That they don't care. The people at the top. The genuinely don't care about anyone's well-being. But it was more than that, because that's obvious to anyone. It's one thing to be aware of something, but it's a whole other story to actually _know_ something, you know? To _get_ it. And I got it then. I realized that if they could, they'd literally work us to death. If they could, the money men at the top would starve us while working us as hard as they could, and just keep scooping up the poor to use as fuel in their credit generating machine. They _were_ doing that, inasmuch as they could given the current laws. Giving people jobs was just a byproduct of them earning money. My dad died because they'd skimped as much as they possibly could on not only building cheap machines as cheaply as possible, but also on the maintenance to keep them running. They had a funeral for him, and almost no one showed up.

"I knew I was done then. I'd been kind of operating under the idea that I was going to work my way up to a better life, and to offer my parents a better life, but it was so painfully obvious that that was never going to happen that I simply couldn't close my eyes. I'd been woken up, and I couldn't go back to sleep, no matter how hard I tried. By then, the Mandalorian Wars had been raging for awhile. I signed up for the Republic Army. I was kind of lucky, actually. They were offering all sorts of bonuses and incentives to try and get people to join up, and I don't know, the Force aligned just right, because I managed to leverage a lot.

"I was willing to go wherever they wanted, which meant I got an extra bonus, and I also had a great knowledge of some machinery, and was willing to put in the work to learn to become a combat technician on top of a rifleman, so that was another bonus, on top of the signing bonus. I also happened to know the recruitment officer. We used to be friends and coworkers until he joined up two years ago, so I talked him into pulling a few strings for me. Took all those credits from the bonuses I'd got, as well as whatever I'd had in my bank account, and put that together with the favor, and I managed to get my mom's debts settled, because of course we were in debt, got her a job on a quiet little colony on a trade moon a few systems over, and got her a brand new apartment to live in, then got our stuff packed up and moved her there fast."

"So you got her out of there," Seth murmured.

"Yep. She's still there, at that colony. That was five years ago. She's gotten two promotions and three raises since then, and bought a house, and met a guy. She remarried last year. She's happy," he replied.

"Good. How's your career been?"

"Okay. Spent about a year fighting through the tail end of the Mandalorian Wars. Didn't see too much action, but I saw enough to get kicked up to Lance Corporal. Didn't get to enjoy the downtime too long before that asshole Revan and her Sith army showed up and started wrecking the galaxy all over again. Been fighting ever since. Got promoted to Sergeant last year after my Sergeant got killed and I ended up taking on the leadership role in the field and getting us through a pretty bad situation. And that's about it," Jensen said. "Any reason you're curious?"

"Guess I'm just trying to hash out why you're crazy enough to volunteer for this," Seth replied.

Jensen laughed. "Sense of fair play. You risked your ass three times for us. In one day. And you saved my damned life. I would've been dead for sure."

"Well, it seemed like the right thing to do," Seth replied.

"Yeah, I'd have done the same thing. But what about you? You're...what, thirty?"

"Yeah, actually."

"But you act ten years older. Twenty years older. You act like you've been doing this for decades."

"Twelve years."

"Damn. So, Mandalorian Wars _and_ the Jedi Civil War? All of it?"

"Yep. Both conflicts, all the way through. I mean...hopefully, I guess."

"Yeah." Jensen sighed. "This is all looking awful." He paused. "So, this thing we're hunting. What is it, actually?"

"I haven't seen one yet. It's supposed to be big and mean and nasty and a product of the Dark Side," Seth replied.

"Dark Side...eh, I've got nothing against Maya and most Jedi I've met have been good people. They'd done a lot to help. But..."

"You don't trust them," Seth said.

"Yeah, I guess so. What they do...it doesn't feel natural. I mean, I know the Force is like all around us and everything, or it's supposed to be, but, I don't know, it just doesn't feel right. Or maybe it's just because it can be perverted so much. Hence, the Dark Side."

"Any tool can be used for evil," Seth replied.

"Yeah, that's a good point."

"But I do know how you feel."

They fell into silence after that, going about the process of reassembling their weapons after cleaning the parts.

* * *

"So what's going on with you and Seri?" Seth asked.

He and Nova were in the armory now. Jensen had gone off to use the bathroom as they'd begun their final approach on the cave probably holding the terentatek, and Nova had come in to start gearing up for the mission ahead.

"What makes you think anything's going on?" she asked in an obviously innocent tone.

"Because I'm not a total idiot. You two keep giggling like you've got a secret. Obviously _something_ is amusing you so."

"Like I told you before, Seth, you'll find out when it becomes your business."

"It's not my business yet?"

"Not yet." Nova paused, then smiled. "Good things come to those who wait."

He sighed. "Okay."

"Good. Patience is good." Another pause. "So, do you really like Kato?"

"Why do you want to know?" he replied.

"I'm just curious. I mean, if you want to sleep with someone else, all you have to do is ask."

"So you'd be okay with it if I had sex with Kato?" he asked.

"Yeah," Nova replied. "Although I would formally request that you at least _try_ to talk her into a threesome with me. Not that I'd need to do all that much to convince you to do that."

"No, you wouldn't," he agreed. "I'll...keep that in mind."

"Do you think I'm secretly lying? That I'm trying to trap you or trick you?" Nova asked, looking over at him.

"No, no, not at all. My hesitation isn't...it doesn't have anything to do with you. For the sake of transparency, I fully believe you. I believe that you are legitimately okay with me sleeping with other women vetted by you. I'm more just...I'm in a weird place right now, emotionally, you know? Maya confronted me back on Dantooine about the fact that if I don't start trying to get my anger and fear under control, I'd really regret it. So I'm doing that. And it's making me kind of...uncertain, about certain things."

"Okay, that's fair," Nova said. "And it's...that's really admirable. Tons of people talk about changing, few do. It's really impressive. And, uh, attractive."

"Well, that's good to hear," he replied.

She laughed. "You really know how to take a compliment, huh?"

"I'm figuring it out." Around them, the ship shuddered in a way that indicated they were descending. Within seconds, the landing gear thumped into place somewhere below. "We're nearly there," he murmured.

"Yep," Nova replied.

Both of them silently finished gathering their gear for the mission ahead. Seth made sure he had ammo, a combat knife, two spare pistols, and several grenades. He was going in full force for this battle. It was going to be a big, messy conflict. He still hadn't met a terentatek face-to-face yet. Not that he was particularly eager to, it sounded like a living nightmare. But this was the job he'd signed up for. Once they were all ready and the ship had landed, Seth and Nova left the armory and found everyone gathered in the central hold.

"I ran some scans," Kato said as she readjusted her hip holster, "there's nothing out there as far as they can tell. The place we want is about fifty meters south of the ship. A big cave drilled into the side of a cliff sheer."

"Perfect," Seth replied. "Seri, you'll be ready?"

"Yes, I'll be in the infirmary with an open comm link, listening in. Let me know the instant you need me. I'll have a full kit ready to go and either I can come to you or you can come to me," she replied.

"Good. Is everyone ready for this?" he asked, looking around. They all indicated that they were. "Then let's go get it over with."

Seri left them, heading for the infirmary, and the squad moved over to the nearest airlock. Seth and Maya went first, to secure the area, and silently cycled through the airlock. Chilled air seeped in as the interior atmosphere matched the exterior, and when the door was open, Seth was glad to see that the storm remained slackened. Just a light dusting of small flakes fell from the dead gray skies above. He and Maya walked out onto the hard, snow-covered ground and surveyed the area. There wasn't a whole lot to see.

Rocks and snow and ice, mostly. There was a forest about two hundred meters to the east, and big jagged mountains behind them, a few dozen miles away, but otherwise, there were just icy fields, miles and miles of them. The cave was ahead of them, an obsidian maw waiting to devour the squad. There was nothing alive out there. Seth reported as much to the others and they quickly cycled through. Within a minute, the squad of warriors were headed into the tunnel. They all turned on their flashlights and the bright artificial light pushed back the darkness. The tunnel sloped at a very gentle grade downwards, into the frozen earth.

"So I remember hearing a report that a squad of your soldiers ran into this thing," Seth said as they walked forward.

"Yes," Jensen confirmed.

"It was around here?"

"From what I recall, I believe so."

"Do you know what they were doing here? There doesn't seem to be anything worthwhile in this area," Seth asked.

"One of the scans showed some Sith activity in the area, so we decided it was worth seeing. They didn't find any Sith, but they did find that teren-thing."

"Terentatek. Well, we'll get some vengeance and put the bastard down," Seth said, and Jensen and Kato murmured in agreement.

They walked on for a few more moments through the cold, rocky tunnel, and then Seth began to notice something strange.

"Wait," he said, stopping, and the others froze. There was blood on the ground, frozen, a decent amount of it. He played his light over to the right of the tunnel and it illuminated an animal corpse, something with dark gray fur.

"It'd make sense that the terentatek would leave kills laying around, as a warning or food for later," Maya said as Seth approached the body.

He studied it in the harsh light. "But it _wouldn't_ make sense for the terentatek to use blasters to kill this thing."

"It was killed by blaster fire?" Jensen asked.

"Yep. No doubt about it."

"So what does that mean?" Kato muttered.

"No idea yet. Let's keep going," Seth replied.

They walked on, and began finding more evidence of animals shot by blaster fire. All of this culminated as they reached the end of the tunnel and came to a decent-sized chamber. As they studied the carnage they found within, Seth quickly began to put together a picture. There was a lot of blood, and blaster marks marred the cave walls. He found a broken, bloodied silver Sith helmet. Picking it up, he tossed it to Maya, who caught it and studied it uneasily.

"What is this doing here?" he asked, although he had an idea.

"The Sith...they have to have captured the terentatek," Maya replied slowly, staring at the bloodied helmet in her grasp. "They must be researching it. Or, Force forbid, breeding it..."

"Has this happened before?" Seth asked.

"I think so. It's difficult to find hard evidence, but almost certainly. This is very bad," she said. Suddenly, she tossed the helmet aside. "We need a new plan." Turning around, she began marching out of the cave.

The others exchanged glances, then began to follow her.

Seth had the idea that she'd just assumed control of the operation.


	32. Chapter 32: Covert Assault

"So what's the plan?" Jensen asked.

"We're infiltrating the Sith base," Maya replied.

They were sitting in the main room of the _Dauntless_ while Kato flew them back to the Republic outpost. "That'll be hard," Jensen murmured.

"You aren't going," Maya said.

He looked up sharply. "Why not?"

"This is too dangerous and risky, and the fewer people we have the better. Seth, Nova, and I will be performing the infiltration. We're doing it as soon as possible. We're going to eliminate that base," Maya replied, speaking calmly, almost coldly.

Jensen stared at her for a moment, and either he decided she was right or he had absolutely no hope of changing her mind. He sighed and sat back. "Fine. You'll need gear."

"Yes, we will. Top of the list will be stealth field generators. Do you have any?" Maya asked.

Jensen sat back, considering it. "I know we have at least one, we _might_ have a few more. I know we brought one in, and we might have recovered one or two from the Sith. I'll see what I can dig up," he replied.

"Thank you. I'll need to make a report to Fielding and get this sorted out. Seth, Nova, I want you geared up and prepared. We're doing an infiltration and destroying the base. With luck, we won't even have to fight the terentatek," Maya said, looking intently at them.

"You didn't bring any stealth units?" Jensen asked.

Seth sighed and shook his head. "I put it on the req form, but they never got back to me."

"Supplies were tight at the Enclave," Maya said. Jensen just nodded and settled back into his seat, thinking.

Seth did the same, considering all the things that would go along with an infiltration mission. He didn't like them, because they could go more wrong than most, but he'd done enough of them that he knew what he was doing, and he had the idea that Nova could infiltrate a place pretty well, too. And given how Maya was reacting to all this, he figured she had to have experience. Well...soon, they'd find out what kind of resources they had.

And figure out if the Force was Light Side or Dark Side on this day.

* * *

They landed, left the ship, spent half an hour in the base, and then went right back out to the ship, this time with Yex. Seri rejoined them, just in case of emergency. Once again, they sat in the main hold, this time with a holographic display being projected up from the main table, showing a three dimensional representation of the Sith base.

"So how did you freaking find _this?_ " Nova asked incredulously.

"Fielding was sitting on it. Apparently his predecessor found the blueprints for the mining installation the Sith has taken over and was preparing a mission similar to this, but died before he could actually initiate or even plan it. When Fielding took over, he was still trying to determine if they even had the resources to do it," Maya replied.

"Not an enviable position," Seth murmured.

"But we _do_ have the resources to pull this off, I believe. We're going to need to do four things. The first will be to plug into their network and get an updated map of the base and where they put everything, given that I imagine they've been hard at work expanding, and we have no idea what was repurposed where or how. Once we have ascertained that, we're going to split up. One of us will head for the central command and upload their entire archive. The other will find a way to make a distraction. We'll figure out how best to do that once we're inside. The last of us will make our way to the power core and set it to overload. Once we have achieved our goals, we get out of there and we'll be done with Hoth," Maya explained.

"Sounds like a plan," Seth said.

"I believe here will be our easiest point of infiltration," Maya said, pointing to a location on the map. "It's a back access tunnel. I'll be able to use the Force to determine if there are any threats back there, but it's likely they just laid a simple trap or sensor, and I can deal with that. We'll get in, find a general access terminal, plug into their network, and figure out where to go and what to do from there. Now, we'll need these," she said, and laid down three earpiece comms unit. "I had Yex shield them to the best of his ability, but even so, use them as sparingly as possible. I also have this." She laid down an uplink device. "It's been boosted so that it will transmit the data as fast as possible to our ship. Unfortunately, we won't know how much time we'll need until we're actually there, at the site, but it shouldn't be more than a minute or two."

"That's a long time," Seth murmured.

"I know. That's what I'm hoping the distraction will deal with. Now, we're going to be there before too long, so study this map, then gear up and we'll get this over with."

Seth focused on the map.

* * *

Time passed.

After studying up and feeling like they had a decent grasp of the mining installation, the trio moved back to the armory. None of them spoke as they geared up. Maya didn't grab much, given that she was relying heavily on her Force abilities and lightsaber, but she did grab a silenced stealth pistol and a few grenades, as well as an energy blade, for backup. It was a smart move. He made sure to gather up supplies as well, swapping his blaster rifle out for a cut-down silenced SMG and a silenced stealth pistol, some explosive charges and grenades, a combat knife, field medical kit, and finally the stealth unit.

They tested them out and made sure they were fully charged.

By the time they were ready, Yex was almost at the landing site. They were going to have to land about a mile away from the entrance they were going to use. The good and bad news was that the storm was back, so it, combined with running on stealth settings, and Maya's use of the Force to help mask their signature, would hopefully be enough to get them where they needed to be without getting picked up by the Sith's sensors.

Whatever the case, they landed, and before long all three of them were cycling through the airlock. They headed outside, into the snowstorm.

"Stay with me!" Maya called over the winds. "I can find my way! Do _not_ lose sight of me!"

"Understood!" Seth called.

He and Nova kept close and followed after her as she struck off into the shrieking winds and blowing snow. Seth focused his mind, trying to put himself in the proper headspace that was required of a truly miserable situation like this. He told himself that at least he wasn't imprisoned and getting tortured or experimented upon. That helped, at least. But man was it _cold_! It had to be like forty below out there.

They'd all pulled on extra cold weather gear, covering up every last inch of themselves, sporting face-masks and goggles now, and Seth had the heating elements in his suit turned up all the way now, but still, that wind had a bitter edge to it. He kept his eyes on Maya, occasionally checking to see that Nova was still there, because it was way too easy for someone to just disappear in a whiteout condition like this.

All around them, the snowstorm billowed and raged madly, almost like it had a grudge. Seconds went by. Minutes crawled past with a painful lethargy. The walk went on forever, and then it kept going. His muscles ached, and then his whole body hurt, and then it eventually started to go numb. And then, suddenly, a huge dark shape appeared dead ahead of them, and he felt hope surge in his chest. The mining installation! It had to be!

 _Please, please let it be._ He thought miserably.

Maya stopped as they drew within a certain distance of it, she raised one hand, held that position, then began to walk forward again, motioning for them to follow. They did so, and soon he saw a door set into a hole carved in the side of the mountain that rose up before them. Maya approached it and hit a button on the panel next to the door, which slowly slid open. Seth felt agony waiting for that damned thing to finish opening, but finally it did, and they hurried inside. Nova shut the door behind them, and they were encased in almost perfect darkness.

"Okay," Maya said, shivering slightly, "we're alone and we made it inside without being detected as far as I can tell."

"Th-thank th-the...ugh, I'm so-so _cold,_ " Nova hissed.

"Take a minute to warm up," Maya replied.

Seth just nodded, shifting around from foot to foot, squeezing his fingers into fists repeatedly. His body was worryingly numb. A minute passed in the darkness, which gradually grew less dark as his eyes adjusted to it, and he realized there was a distant light far down the tunnel they were standing in. Another minute passed, which became five. His body came back online and it hurt. Eventually, Maya made them start walking again, and they did, keeping quiet. It was a pain for Seth, but he kept his mouth shut.

By the time they had drawn close enough to the light source to determine what it was, (a simple dim work-light either left on by accident or maybe left for whoever was supposed to check this entrance periodically), the numbness was gone and the pain of it wearing off was almost gone, leaving him more or less functional. Once they got their bearings, they continued on, making quick work of a small network of tunnels carved directly out of the rock, reinforced occasionally by some steel beams, lit by a dim work-light every now and then. Thankfully, they ran into no one. Whatever the Sith were doing, they were too busy to patrol back here.

At last, they found a back entrance into the actual facility itself. Maya stood before it, concentrating, then moved forward and opened the door. They followed her through it into an antechamber.

"Nova, get into their system, we'll watch the doors," Maya said.

Nova nodded tightly and hurried over to a general access terminal. Seth took one door, Maya took the other. He went down on one knee, silenced SMG to his shoulder, as behind the door frame as he could be to present as small a target as possible. Time passed slowly, the only sound being the hum of power around them and Nova working quietly. After a few moments, she whispered for them to come over.

"Okay, here's what I've got," she said. An updated map of the base now appeared on the screen. "Power core terminal we want is there. Based on the fact that this says _Specimen Storage_ , I'm guessing that's where the terentatek, and probably other nasty creatures they must've captured and experimented on, are. It looks like if we overload this power node here, it'll override the safety mechanisms and all the doors will unlock and open simultaneously. Finally, command center is here."

"Hmm...okay," Maya said, considering it. "Nova, get to the command center and wait for the distraction. Seth, you'll be handling the power core. Here." She passed him a small device. He studied it, then placed it inside of a hardened pocket on his suit of armor. "Yex whipped that up. Slot it at the appropriate console and it'll get the job done. But, and pay attention here, once you slot that, we have fifteen minutes. No ifs, no ands, no buts. Fifteen minutes after you slot that, the base goes boom. We'll want to be safely out of here and on our way back to the ship by then. So, this is what happens. I trip the distraction. Once it looks clear, Nova, you place the uplink and then determine how long it should take. From there, we'll hold off on the power core overload for as long as possible. Ideally, you'll slot it as soon as you have confirmation from Nova that the transfer has gone through, but if it's looking particularly dicey, you'll have to do it sooner.

"Now, with regards to these items you'll be slotting. Seth, you just have to make sure it stays in for about thirty seconds. After that, doesn't matter if the console gets blown up, that power core is locked in. However, Nova, you need to stay there and make sure the uplink completes. You can't leave until it's done. If it's looking truly untenable, then just cut and run. We could really use the intel, but what's most important is that we kill the terentatek and destroy the base. Now, are there any questions?" she asked, looking around at them.

Seth could think of none, and apparently neither could Nova.

"Okay. Upload a copy of this to your datapad, and memorize the routes as much as you can. Only use the radio if you absolutely must. Now let's go."

* * *

"When are we gonna hit the bastards again?"

"I don't know, soon. Captain's getting antsy but you know how it is. Damned Command's got us running experiments on those stupid animals."

"Why don't we just call down a damned orbital strike or carpet bomb or something? We know where they are!"

"Cause this is just some backwater, pissant little planet no one cares about. You know how it is..."

Seth held his breath, staying frozen, mimicking a statue as much as he possible could. The two guards who'd stopped to complain in the corridor with him finally started moving on again. He listened to their voices and footsteps recede, then he exhaled slowly. That was a close one. And this stealth field generator was really worth its salt. As soon as he was sure they were gone, he resumed his journey. It had been harrowing so far.

The first five minutes had gone smoothly, as he hadn't run into anyone as he made his way through empty corridors and derelict chambers. It seemed that most of the mining installation had yet to be utilized by the Sith, but eventually he ran into occupied territory, and that was when he began running into patrols. So far, he'd managed to go undetected, not having to kill anyone or knock them out. It wasn't that he particularly valued Sith life, it was more that the second you had to knock someone out or kill them, a clock that you couldn't see began to count down. Because that person was going to be missed by someone.

Maybe in an hour, maybe in two minutes, but then that someone would start looking, and they might raise the alarm. Seth felt tremendously alone now. He had no idea if Nova or Maya were okay, how close they were to completing their objectives, if they'd run into any problems. He at least figured that they hadn't been noticed yet, or he'd have heard about it by now. Seth made it to the end of the passageway he was in and hooked a right. He was in the power distribution center now. Slipping through another door, he found himself in a large room filled with lots of noisy machinery. A perfect place to hide.

He was where he needed to be, the main reactor core area, so now he just needed to find the console that Maya had pointed out. It was in the far back right corner of the room. The place he was in was a large, broad, tall room of metal plating, heavy machinery, and shadows. Tired-eyed technicians moved among the equipment, monitoring it. Seth began making his way among the shadows, slinking stealthily along the wall, moving past the equipment. He was about halfway there when alarms cut loose and began to cycle wildly.

Seth froze instinctively, his heart hammering in his chest, as all the technicians looked around. A loudspeaker clicked on. _"All specimens have broken out of containment! Security personnel to Specimen Storage Wing immediately!"_

Seth couldn't help but grin, especially when he saw the technicians all scatter to get out of the room, leaving him alone. He sighed softly with relief and finished making his way to the console in question. As soon as he reached it, there he sat, tucked away in the deepest shadows between two hulking pieces of equipment.

He keyed his radio. "I'm in place."

" _I've reached the Command Center. It's clear,"_ Nova replied. A pause. _"Beginning uplink."_

"Maya?" Seth asked. Nothing. "Maya?"

A crackled. _"I need backup. I'm in trouble-"_ Maya said, then cried out, and her link went dead. Seth stood up. "Maya?!"

Nothing. _"Crap, what do we do?"_ Nova asked.

"How long until the uplink completes?" Seth replied.

" _Um...ninety seconds."_

"Okay. Stay there for as long as you can. Once it completes, get out the way we came in."

" _Seth-"_

"Nova, please do it?"

Another pause. _"I'll wait for you near the exit."_

"Fine," he said. "I'm setting it to go now."

" _Okay. Good luck."_

"You too."

Seth came out of hiding and inserted the item Maya had given him into the proper slot. The second the countdown appeared, he synced it to a chronometer he had on him, embedded in his right armor gauntlet, at the wrist, like a watch. **15:00** flashed, then became **14:59**. Seth then turned and began sprinting towards Maya's last known location.

* * *

The base was in chaos.

For the most part, this worked with him, as it meant the soldiers and base personnel were too busy to notice him rushing by in his stealth field generator, which didn't work _nearly_ as well when you were hurrying. Five minutes went by before he managed to track down Maya's last known location. The section he entered was lit only by crimson emergency lights. Seth stepped through a doorway and then hesitated.

There were deep gouges in the walls, carved out of metal plating, and there were a lot of bodies, and blood was _everywhere_. Well, at least he knew he was probably going in the right direction. As he began making his way down the passageway, checking the bodies to see if the worst had come to pass and Maya was dead, he heard various sounds echoing through the base. Howls, screaming, shrieks, most of them inhuman. Something roared up ahead. Seth entered the antechamber at the end of the hallway. There were three ways to go.

He looked around frantically. Another minute had slipped by, leaving him with nine total to get Maya and get out of here. So where _was_ she?! He heard someone grunt, then the telltale swing of a lightsaber. The sounds came from his left. He began sprinting that way. He was halfway there when he heard a familiar voice cry out in pain.

"Maya!" he called. No response. He pushed himself harder and came into a storage bay. And was given his very first look at a terentatek. It had to be. This thing looked like pure evil. It was taller than he was by about half a foot, and yet somehow appeared wider than it was tall. It had ugly, rough, dark green-brown skin, and huge arms that ended in massive, wickedly curved claws. Its head was low and angled forward. Dark black spikes jutted out of the top of its strangely shaped skull, and it had two huge tusks on either side of twin rows of razor sharp teeth. The thing was standing over Maya, who was unconscious and bleeding on the floor.

Seth raised the rifle and activate an overcharged shot, aiming for the huge brute. The terentatek, which, he realized, had already sustained some damage, he could see several cauterized wounds across its thick hide, roared and began coming for him. It stomped across the floor, making disturbingly rapid progress. He fired the overcharged shot right into its face. The beast hardly even slowed down. He threw himself to the side, in between a stack of crates and the wall, as the terentatek rushed him. It stomped past him and roared as it missed him.

He kept moving, to the edge of the crate stack, then around the other side. As he came out from behind it, he caught sight of a blue glow. Maya's lightsaber! It was on the floor beside her, still ignited. Seth made a fast decision and, despite his personal feelings, which were screaming, and screaming loudly, at him not to do this, he rushed over to her. Letting his rifle hang from its shoulder strap, he leaned down and snatched up the energy blade.

There were all sorts of stories about non-Jedis picking up lightsabers. He instantly learned that some of them just weren't true. It didn't shock him, it didn't hurt him, the blade of energy didn't suddenly disappear. It was, as he suspected, basically just a high-tech sword. And he'd fought with swords before, a lot. Seth moved away from Maya, not wanting to lead the terentatek to her and get her trampled under its huge bulk. The beast was turning around now, getting a lock on him. He moved away from her, then screamed at it.

The terentatek roared and began coming for him. He knew he was going to have to do this fast. He had a very rough idea and was hoping it would work. There wasn't time to sit here and dance around with this big ugly thing. The beast roared again as it charged him, and he barely managed to dodge out of the way. This time, he whirled around as it passed by him and ran after it. Bringing the blade back, he stabbed forward with all his might, driving the blade into the back of its oddly-shaped skull. The creature let out a keening wail and the lightsaber wouldn't go in deeper. Screaming bloody murder, Seth leaned into it with all his might.

Finally, he either burned or broke through the thing's damned thick skull, and abruptly the wailing cut off and it slumped to the floor, taking the lightsaber with it. He cried out in surprise as the blade was taken from his hands. The terentatek hit the deckplates and there it resided. Either it was dead or unconscious. Close enough for him. Seth moved forward, gripped the handle, and extracted the lightsaber.

After a few seconds of hunting, he found a button and pressed it. The blade disappeared back into the hilt. Hoping it wouldn't reignite, Seth slipped it onto a belt loop, made sure it was firmly secure, then moved over to Maya. She was bleeding from a stomach wound where the thing had gotten her. Cursing, he ripped out his medkit, tore it open, and found some coagulation powder. He broke it open over the wound, pouring the whole thing into the big ugly tear, then tossed it aside and scooped her up in his arms.

He didn't have time for anything else.

There were just over seven minutes left to get out of here.

Seth began to run.

* * *

"What happened!?" Nova cried as Seth came at last to the tunnel they'd initially entered through. She was waiting for him, pistol in hand, a look of extreme anxious distress on her face.

"Terentatek got her," Seth replied as he ran past her. She picked up on the message and sprinted after him. His legs and arms and lungs burned, but he couldn't stop.

"How long do we have?" she asked.

"About ninety seconds to get out of here," he replied.

"Damn."

"Yep."

They stopped talking and ran through the dim tunnel. Seconds bled by, one becoming two, two becoming five, five becoming ten. All he knew was his feet hitting the floor, his heart hammering in his chest, his blood pounding in his ears. He counted down the time in his head. Ninety seconds became sixty. Sixty became thirty too soon. That was when they hit their exit. Back out into the snow, as they started hurrying through the storm, Seth suddenly realized they had a problem: Maya was how they had found their way here.

How were they going to find their way back?

Right now, that didn't matter. What mattered was putting as much distance between them and the mining installation as possible. Their progress was considerably slower in the snow, and Seth counted down the seconds in his head.

When he reached one, the base exploded, and a tremendous force picked him up and hurled him into the storm. He screamed as Maya was flung from his arms and he sailed through the air, and then he smacked into the frozen earth and an explosion of pain blossomed across his body. And then all he knew was darkness once again.

* * *

Seth jerked awake, then groaned.

His body was wracked with pain. Wherever he was, it was dim. Someone shifted beside him, inhaled, the sound of someone coming awake. He looked over, tried to figure out what was going on. He was laying in a bed, a blanket atop him.

"Seth?"

"Nova?" he asked softly. "What...happened? Where are we?" His mind felt like it was wreathed in fog, or clouds, or wool.

"We're back at the Republic Outpost. We're safe. You're in an infirmary," she replied, and appeared at his side. Reaching down, she laid a hand across his cheek. Her touch was soft and warm and deeply comforting. "How are you?"

"I feel like _crap,_ " he groaned. "What happened?"

"Well, I thought we were gonna die," Nova replied. "I barely managed to find Maya a few minutes after the explosion. I brought her around with a stimulant while I was calling for Yex to come get us, but the radio wasn't working or the storm was too much. She was in a lot of pain, but she used the Force to find you. Once we got you, between the two of us, we just barely managed to haul your heavy ass back to the ship. Maya was in bad shape, but she stabilized you and herself with the Force, and found the ship. Then she passed out. Seri and Yex helped us, and we got back to the base. Seri insisted we transfer you to the outpost's infirmary, so here you are."

"Are you doing okay? Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine, just sore and with a few bruises. Don't worry, you got the worst of it."

He groaned. "How long was I out?"

"About four hours," she replied. "I decided to wait here."

He nodded and relaxed. "So we did it?"

"As far as I know. I haven't heard anything, I've been here, but there haven't been any attacks or anything," she replied.

"Okay. Good." He shifted, then groaned. "Damn, I need some more painkillers..."

Nova grinned and leaned in closer. "How about you just lay there and let me administer some extra painkillers, Seth?"

"I...well, okay. Just not too rough," he replied.

"Don't worry, I'll be gentle..." She kissed him and he kissed her back, slipping a hand over the back of her neck.

* * *

Some time later, Seth sat in a briefing room with Nova and Maya. He was freshly showered and Maya had used a bit of Force heal on him, though he'd asked her not to use too much, because she was clearly exhausted and depleted from how much she'd been using it recently. And it was telling just how tired she was when she agreed. He was in pain, but it was manageable. After Nova had...administered his painkillers, as she put it, they'd lounged around in bed for awhile, and finally Maya had come calling, telling them they were needed.

So they'd gotten up and had a quick shower, then pulled on fresh clothes, and followed her to the briefing room. He had to admit, he was intrigued to see what was happening. As far as he knew, they should be going to their next location on this big hunt. The door to the briefing room opened and Fielding, Jensen, and Kato walked in. Jensen and Kato looked pleased. Well, Jensen did, Kato looked about how she normally did, a bit grim. Though maybe a bit less grim. They all took a seat around the table.

"Okay, I've just gotten off the comms with the Republic," Fielding said. He looked tired, but less so, and also calmer now. "Maya, whatever it was you said to your Jedi worked. The Republic has agreed to send a full shipment of supplies and troops out within three days, so...thank you. All of you, thank you _very_ much. You basically saved all our asses. The storm has finally cleared up and the scans we've run indicate that you wiped out all the Sith. We're going to be getting teams out there soon to figure out what's left, but it's looking like that explosion you caused pretty much destroyed the whole mining facility and half the mountain it was dug into. Did you manage to do what you intended to do when you came here?"

Seth glanced at Maya. She gave him a grateful look. "Yes," she said. "The beast is dead."

"Good. Now...I've come to understand that you requested some volunteers to join you on your, uh, mission. Given their previous inclination to volunteer and the fact that you have a rapport with them, I asked Jensen and Kato if they'd be interested in going. They both said yes. I'll need some paperwork signed by Sergeant Kast and Jedi Corix, but otherwise, it's a done deal if you're okay with this," Fielding said.

Seth glanced at Maya. "I figured we could use some help," she said.

"I'm okay with this," he replied, then looked at Jensen and Kato. "Welcome aboard."

"Happy to be here," Jensen said. "Any idea where we're going next?"

"It can't be worse than this freaking place," Kato muttered.

"I wouldn't be so sure," Maya said, and Seth glanced at her. "I'll brief you all back on the ship. But if there isn't anything more...?"

"No, just the paperwork. Then we're good," Fielding said.

"Good." Maya yawned, then sighed. "I need a very long sleep."

"Don't we all?" Nova replied.

"Then let's get to it," Maya said.

They all stood up and headed out of the room. Nova agreed to help Jensen and Kato get their things over to the ship, while Seth and Maya followed Fielding to his office. They went through the paperwork, making sure the transfer orders were all in order, then each signing for who they represented, Seth, the Republic, Maya, the Jedi. Seth felt weird signing off on this, given that stuff like this was normally above his pay grade, but he supposed he was presently the only representative the Republic had on this mission.

Well, not any longer.

After finishing with the paperwork and saying their goodbyes, he and Maya began to head back to the _Dauntless_.

"So, where _are_ we going?" he asked.

"A miserable little moon named Dxun," Maya replied.


	33. Chapter 33: Transit 2

Seth poked his head out of the bathroom as he heard a knock at his and Nova's door. He had just finished a shower and was in the process of drying off. He wasn't sure where Nova had gone, elsewhere on the ship he supposed.

"Who is it?" he called.

"Me," said Nova. "And Seri."

He considered it for a moment. Both women had showered with him, though only one of them had slept with him. Seri didn't seem to mind nudity.

"Come in," he said.

He resumed drying off in the bathroom. It had been a bit since their final excursion on Hoth. After hitting space, Seth and Nova had hit their bed and slept for a solid ten hours. After getting up, they'd showered, grabbed a meal, and then gone off to work on their own things. Seth mainly just wanted to work out. He felt like he might be drifting towards falling out of the habit, now that his life of regular routine was evidently gone, for the moment at least. Hopping between worlds with a crew where he was the only Republic soldier and where he was not only allowed to sleep in his own room, but share it with an extremely attractive and sexually enthusiastic woman, was really messing up his schedule. Not that he particularly minded.

But his body had been silently urging him back towards working out, so that's what he'd done. Although it had been kind of hard, what with all the strain and injuries lately, he'd taken some painkillers and pushed through. After a good two hour session, he'd hit the shower.

The door opened and they came in, closing it behind them.

"Okay, you're just getting out of a shower, perfect," Nova said as she came to stand in front of the bathroom door.

He glanced behind him and saw Seri walk over to the bed and sit down. She looked...anxious. "Why is that perfect?" he asked.

"Well, remember that thing that you kept asking about? The thing that Seri and I had?"

"The private conversation?"

"Yes."

"I do. What about it?"

"Well, I told you I'd let you know if or when it became your business. And now it is! Seri wanted me here for the beginning of it, so, Seri?"

Seth finished drying off and wrapped the towel around his waist. He came to stand in the doorway and looked at her. "What's up?" he asked. "Is everything...all right?"

"Oh yes," Seri replied quickly. "Everything is fine. It's not a bad thing. I just..." she hesitated for a moment. "I want to have sex with you."

"Oh," he said.

"Yes. And, well, I thought it best to talk it over with Nova first. It...kind of came up in conversation a few days ago. I've been thinking about it ever since we had that shower together. It was something I had to think about for awhile, and then awhile longer when you went together with Nova. Um, to be clear, I don't want a _relationship,_ I just want to try and see what sex with you would be like. And probably just once, just so we're completely clear on the encounter."

"And you're okay with this?" Seth asked, glancing at Nova.

"Yes. I like both of you a lot, and this seems like it would be good for both of you. So, whatever you decide, have fun. I'll leave you to it."

She gave him a kiss and then left the room.

"So...are you, you know, interested?" Seri asked. "Nova said you were..."

"Yes," he replied. He felt awkward, but also aroused and excited. "I am interested." He laughed suddenly. "It's really rare I get to have conversations like these."

"Conversations relating to sex?" Seri asked.

"I mean...conversations where I and the other person are directly speaking to each other, in no uncertain terms, about our sexual intentions. Most people are so uncomfortable with it, they never want to talk about it."

"I have noticed that. It never made sense to me, so I just assumed I must be missing something. I am a little...off, I think, socially speaking."

"You think so?"

"You _don't_ think so?"

"No. I mean...I don't think you are. I think you get a little too focused on your work, and you're pretty blunt, but in a practical kind of way, not an asshole kind of way. Too many people say they're blunt, but really they're just jerks, but I've never gotten that impression from you. Maybe you feel off because what you're doing is actually the proper way to do things, but the vast majority of people do it improperly? I'd much rather live in a galaxy where people just said what they meant, or what they felt, instead of lying or dodging or misdirecting." He paused. "So, we're in agreement then? We both want to have sex right now?"

"Yes," she said.

"Okay, good. Um...is there anything to be concerned about? I don't have any protection around because Nova and I don't need it..."

"Oh no, we're fine there. Thanks to all the injuries you've sustained over the past few weeks, I have had extensive, frankly _exhaustive,_ access to your medical history and up-to-date scans. Any of the few potential viruses or diseases that could be transmitted between us, you for sure don't have. And there's a zero percent chance of you impregnating me, so no. We can just...do it."

"Okay. Are you ready?"

"Yes. I'm ready."

Seth took off his towel.

* * *

"That was, um...different," Seth said, lying on his back beside Seri, both of them naked atop the blankets.

"Good different? Or bad different?" Seri asked.

"Definitely good different. It, uh, that felt really good."

"It did," she agreed. "I've never fornicated with a human. Actually, I've never once done it with someone who wasn't a selkath. Have you ever had sex with a selkath?"

"No, I haven't. Nova's the most exotic woman I've ever slept with. I mean...well, before now."

"So just humans and twi'leks?"

"Yes."

"Do you want to, hmm...expand your horizons, in that regard?"

Seth considered it. "I mean, yeah, I think so. I definitely want to have sex with a zeltron."

Seri laughed. "Who _doesn't_ want to have sex with a zeltron?"

"Good point. I'd also be really interested in a cathar. Also echani, but they're so near-human that I guess it's not quite the same. Same with zeltron." He paused. "So, um, it _was_ good then?"

"Yes. Although my initial instinct was correct: I want this to be a one-time thing. Maybe not permanently, if you ever bump into me in the future and I'm not too busy, I'd be happy to do it again. It was very gratifying, and I enjoyed it greatly. But I think sex is different for me than it is for other people. It doesn't hold as much sway over me, for some reason. I don't think about it that often. I enjoy it when I have it, typically, and I am sexually attracted to people, but..." she shrugged. "I don't know. I don't seem to care about it nearly as much as so many other people do. As clearly you and Nova do, given the frequency with which you mate. And honestly, I don't want to."

"Any particular reason?" he replied.

"I guess because I'm worried about becoming distracted from what I really care about. I love my work. I love helping people. I can pour hours and hours and days even into my job. Sometimes, it is unhealthy, I admit, but overall, I'm doing an undeniably good thing. And I don't want anything to get in the way of that. So I don't mind that I'm not that into sex...is that weird?"

"No, I think that's perfectly logical. And from what I can tell, we don't get to choose how horny we are. You just...are. You are as horny as your body and mind are. Honestly Seri, from my perspective, you're living your life pretty well. Enjoying what you do is probably one of the greatest things a person can achieve. You're obviously happy doing what you do, and satisfied by it, and I think that's amazing. You are a great person. Honestly, I envy you for how much you love your work."

She rolled over and looked at him. "You don't love yours?"

He sighed and considered it. "I don't know. In the beginning, I was just scared and angry a lot. But then I started to like it. I started to feel like I was actually _good_ at something. Then, that turned into arrogance. For awhile, I hate to admit it, but I felt like I was better than a lot of other people. Eventually I got over that. At some point, I slid into...I don't know, this pale gray void of emotionless apathy. At first, it was depression, then it was despair, then it was just...apathy. I've felt like a droid, okay well, some types of droids, totally void of any emotions, for a little while now. At least a year. I guess I kept expecting to die in each and every battle I got thrown into, but it just kept not happening. But coming to Taris...it shook me awake, in some bad ways, but also in some good ways. I _care_ again. Meeting you and Nova and Yex and Maya...you've all made me actually _care_ about things again. Caring hurts, but having suffered through the great bleak desolation of apathy, I'd rather hurt than feel nothing at all. I'd much rather hurt," he explained.

"My. That's...rather heavy."

"Sorry, I don't mean to be. Or, well I guess I do, it's just-"

"No, it's fine." She smiled suddenly and took his hand. "I like having these conversations with you, Seth. Despite my lack of interest in sex, I _do_ love connecting with people. And that love of connection grows exponentially more powerfully if I like the person, and I feel like the person is good, and worth connecting with. And you are all of those things to me. So don't get me wrong, I like this conversation, in a way. I'm glad we're connected, I'm sad that you're hurting."

"I don't think I'm hurting right now," he said. "I was going to say that it isn't all hurt. There's been a lot of really good experiences. Meeting and getting to be friends with all of you has been amazing. I haven't really connected with another person in a really long time. For awhile, I was just scared to, because they kept dying or transferring. Then I stopped seeing a point in it. And then, I think that I thought I'd forgotten _how_ to connect with someone. But I'm glad to see that that isn't true."

"So am I," Seri said. She shifted suddenly. "I need a shower. As fun as that was, it left me, uh...messy."

"I'll join you," he replied.

* * *

After the shower, they dried and dressed, then left the room, and nearly bumped into Nova.

"Hi," she said, and looked oddly embarrassed.

"Hi...were you listening to us?" Seth asked, unable to keep from grinning, as he was highly amused at the thought of it.

"I...yes," she admitted. "I'm sorry. I wasn't going to, but...then I just couldn't help myself. Are you angry?"

"No," Seth replied. "I don't care."

"Maybe I am strange for thinking so, but I think it's fair, given your relationship with Seth," Seri said. "I do not mind. Did you...enjoy the experience?" Seri asked.

"Yes," Nova replied. "Uh, actually, Seth, could I borrow you? I need...release, after that."

"Oh. Wow. Okay, yeah, sure. Um, talk to you later, Seri."

"Have fun," Seri replied.

Nova pushed him back into their quarters and closed the door.

When they were finished, Seth found himself again laying in the exact same position he had been not that long ago, now with Nova laying at his side.

"That's a _lot_ better," she murmured.

He laughed. "You're kind of a pervert, huh?"

"Have you _met_ me?" she replied. "And besides, who isn't? Not that that's any kind of excuse to eavesdrop on someone having sex, but...I guess, I really would have not done it if I thought either of you genuinely would have minded. You don't, do you?"

"No, not at all. It _is_ kind of hot," he admitted.

She laughed. "I knew it. So I didn't catch what all was said afterwards. Shouts carry well, conversation doesn't. How'd it go? It seemed to have been a good experience."

"Yeah, it was really good for both of us, as far as I can tell. But she says she isn't interested in doing it again anytime soon."

"Any particular reason? Admittedly, I'm not sure how a woman can sleep with you and not want more if you weren't, like, a complete jerk to her or something."

"She says she's just not as into sex as most other people, and she doesn't want it interrupting her work. Which is actually a pretty good idea. I've seen too many people do insanely stupid things because of sex, so it seems like Seri's lucky in that regard. Although she said if we meet again after all this, she'd probably be down for some more."

"And I'm guessing you enjoyed it."

"Yes. It was, uh...it was really different. But in a good way. I wasn't even sure it would work with me and a selkath, but evidently I was wrong. Very happily wrong."

"Well, I'm glad it worked out. Also, you should keep an eye out for Kato. We were talking earlier and she seems like she's into you. So if she tries to jump you, you know, I'm okay with that. Or maybe you should try to get with her. She's really hot, in a grim sort of way."

"Yeah she is," he murmured. "You'd really be okay with that? You're not going to hook up with anyone?"

She shrugged. "I might actually make a pass at Jensen. He's pretty hot. Do I have a green light for that?"

"Yeah," Seth replied.

"Okay, good." She stretched, then sighed. "I'm sorry to hit it and quit it, but I actually really need to get a good workout session in, and calibrate my gun and make some repairs to my armor."

"It's fine. I've got stuff I need to do too," he replied.

They got up and headed back into the shower.

* * *

Seth stepped into the armory and saw that it was occupied. Jensen was at one of the workbenches. He grabbed his Republic Mod Armor and began gathering tools and mods.

"How's it going?" Seth asked.

"Pretty good...did you hook up with Seri?" Jensen replied.

Seth paused. " _How_ did you know that?"

Jensen laughed. "Kato pointed out that she kept looking at you in _that_ way, and once or twice you looked back at her in a similar way. And she also noticed that there were a few times where Nova and Seri were whispering about something, and giggling like schoolgirls occasionally. Could be about anything, but she figured there was a decent chance it was about how Seri's got a crush on you. And you and Nova are obviously hooked up, and Nova didn't look angry. Kato said, if anything, she looked encouraging." He shrugged. "I wanted to ask you about it. I just happened to be walking through the main hold and managed to catch sight of Nova and Seri going into your room, and then Nova came back out and just sat there with her back to the door, chewing on her lower lip. I'm reasonably sure she didn't notice me. And I _might_ have heard a few things."

Seth sighed. "Sound carries too well in this damned ship."

Jensen laughed. "So that's a yes then?"

"Yeah. Don't mention it to her that you know, I mean, I don't know if she'll care or not, but I also don't want to embarrass her or anything."

"That's fine, I won't. I was mainly curious because that would definitely confirm that you and Nova are in an open relationship, and..."

"And you want to know if I'm okay with you sleeping with her?" Seth asked.

"I mean...yeah? Is that too forward or..."

"No, it's fine. Yeah. She seems into you. Although I guess maybe wait for her to ask you is my only advice. Nova is...kind of specific, I guess, is what I want to say." He shrugged. "I don't know why, but that's my advice. What about you and Kato?"

"Kato? There's nothing there."

"You don't like her?"

"No, I mean, she's fine, just...she's a little too..." he paused, frowning. "You know, I don't know what it is. I think it's because...oh crap, you know, I never thought about it, but I suddenly realized why I'm not into her: she kind of reminds me of my mom. Like their facial structures are kind of similar. And that just is a big turn off."

"Yeah, fair enough," Seth replied.

"So how do you like...handle it? Like, Nova hooking up with other guys? How does she handle it when you hook up with other women?" Jensen asked after a moment.

"I don't know," Seth admitted. "I mean, maybe we won't handle it well at all. Maybe we're just fooling ourselves that it's working. We're pretty early in the relationship, and although we've talked about it more than once, my hooking up with Seri, which just happened, is the first time one of us has slept with someone else since we hooked up. But I've had relationships like this before, open ones. Despite everything, despite all the crap that's happened to me, all my rage and depression and insecurity...for whatever reason, jealousy just doesn't trigger. Maybe that part of my brain broke? If that's the case, then I'm glad. I've _been_ jealous before, in the past, but I think maybe it got burned out of me by all the other insane crap that's happened?"

"That'd be nice. I've gotten good at divorcing sex from emotional entanglement over the years, but I'm not sure I could do it. Which is probably why I've just given up on the notion of a long-term relationship. I've got too much cognitive dissonance. I'd be unwilling to share my partner sexually...and I'd probably end up not being able to stay faithful. Hence: no relationships beyond anything casual."

"That does make the most sense," Seth agreed.

He checked over his armor, taking out the cold weather mods and installing some sealant mods that would keep rainwater out. He'd taken a look at Dxun and found that it was a mostly rainy jungle. The Republic had an outpost there as some kind of tentative agreement with the local Onderonian government. He'd only had a chance to glance over the data there, but it seemed that the citizens of the planet the moon orbited, Onderon, were highly reluctant to get involved with the Republic at all. But there were Mandalorians hanging around on Dxun, or there had been at one point or another, so they were at least willing to accept Republic aid on that.

He struck up another conversation with Jensen as he worked, largely about crazy battles they'd been in, and they talked as their hands moved slowly, methodically over their armor and weapons. Preparing for the unknown horror that was to come.

* * *

The next day or so passed with a pleasant smoothness, and as it drew to a close, Seth found himself wishing, almost desperately, that it could last longer. Maybe he did need some kind of vacation after all this was over. Although he doubted he would get one. The war with the Sith was still on, and he knew that as long as that was true, no matter how much it damaged him, how much it hollowed him out, how much it ate him alive...he would pick up the rifle, put on the armor, and go back to the front lines. Again and again until one of them was dead. In a way that surpassed his emotional problems, his anxiety, any of his own personal issues, Seth knew this to be true. He didn't know if it was a flaw so much as a foundational pillar of his core being.

But when the war was over, well…

He intended to have a nice, long vacation.

That was, of course, provided he was still alive. For the time being, he focused on his primary mission. When he'd gotten the two hour warning from Kato, who was serving as their pilot this time around, he'd gone to get his field kit together and ready for whatever laid ahead. Eventually, he and Maya stood in the cockpit behind Kato. They were slowly descending through the upper atmosphere of Dxun.

"So we're clear with the local authorities?" Maya asked.

"Yes, I've already made the appropriate connections there. We're authorized. They didn't sound too happy about it, though," Kato replied.

"That's fine. How about contact with the Republic outpost?" Seth asked.

"I've been trying. I've also been trying to run some scans. Something's wrong."

Seth sighed and felt a cold chill shiver through him. That was never a good sign.

"What is it?" Maya asked.

"Something's interfering with the scans, and with the communications. I'm not sure what it is. It might be some natural effect of the moon itself, or bad weather, or something leftover from when the Mandalorians were here." Kato shrugged.

Maya sighed. "Great." She glanced at Seth. "What do you think?"

He considered it. "We should keep going. Do a fly-by of the outpost, evaluate the situation."

She nodded. "Bring us in."

"Onward it is," Kato said, and continued diving through the atmosphere.


	34. Chapter 34: Dxun

"Do you have anything?" Seth asked, trying to keep the anxiety from his voice. It had been quite a good trip between worlds, but that was already fading as they finished making their fly-over of the Republic outpost.

That familiar, sour feeling of foreboding was pooling coldly in his intestines.

" _Negative. Still zero on the comms, and nothing but a lot of screwy signals on the scanners,"_ Kato replied, her grim voice being piped to them through the wall-mounted speaker. _"I have a good landing spot picked out, about twenty meters east of the outpost in a small clearing. What do you want me to do, Seth?"_

He sighed softly and looked across the small bay in front of the airlock at Jensen, then at Maya and Nova. "What do you think's doing it? Any further ideas?"

" _If I had to guess, I'd say it's being done on purpose. I can't be sure, but typically when comms are this dead it means a transmission blocker is somewhere in the area. It's probably screwing with the scanners, too, but I think that's mostly the sheer amount of life in the area. I can already see dozens of creatures moving all over the place."_

"Fine. Set down in the clearing. Keep on the radio," Seth replied.

" _Understood."_

His stomach did a little flip as the ship descended.

"What do you think?" Jensen asked.

"We do it like we planned," Seth replied after a few seconds. "Nova with me, Jensen and Maya are the other team. We stay together until we get to the outpost, and then we split up and do a systematic search of the area: building by building, room by room. Sweep and clear. There's more than likely friendlies in the area, so be careful. And if you see any hostiles that are sentient, try to take them alive. Could be we're just dealing with a busted transmitter or some inclement weather, but I'd rather assume not. Weapons check."

They all checked over their weapons, except for Maya, who just had her saber. Once their weapons checked out, he had them do radio checks. They all had wraparound earpieces fitted into their ears and throat mikes. Everything checked out. The _Dauntless_ finished settling. Seth and Nova slipped into the airlock, opting to go first. Neither spoke a word as the airlock cycled them through. Seth felt tense, but ready. His Mod Armor was kitted out for wet weather work, checked out three times, as were his weapons.

He had a blaster rifle, pistol, some fragmentation grenades, a decent amount of energy clips, an emergency medical kit, and a sword and combat knife, just in case. Nova was similarly decked out. Whatever was waiting out there for them…

They were _probably_ ready for it.

The doors opened. Immediately, a heavy, thick aroma of vegetation filled the air, which was heavy and moist and hot. A dozen distinct animal calls came to Seth as he moved carefully out, standing at the top of the little stairway and surveying the area. There were trees around, a ton of trees. And bushes, and vines, and flowers, and other types of plants he couldn't readily identify. The place was incredibly vibrant, bursting with color.

Things moved in the foliage.

"Let's go," he murmured. "Secure the area."

"Yep," Nova replied tightly.

They moved down the stairs and away from the ship, into the clearing. The things that were moving among the foliage seemed content to keep their distance.

For now.

Maya and Jensen cycled through and joined them.

"Anything yet?" Jensen asked.

"Well, there's a lot of plants and a lot of animals, but so far they've left us alone," Seth replied. He pointed towards the base. "You can see a sort of path there. I think they probably used this as either an auxiliary or maybe emergency landing pad often enough that they cut a path." Through the trees, he could just barely make out a hint of a faded gray structure.

"We should get on with this," Nova muttered.

"Yeah. Let's go. Eyes open," Seth replied, and set off.

It was raining, but lightly. More misting at this point. Seth took point, hitting the treeline and moving onto the rough path that led to the outpost. He kept his blaster rifle in hand and charged up, ready to open fire at a second's notice. This place was threatening. There was a lot of life around here, and he'd bet his next paycheck that most of it survived by being fast, and mean, and nasty. This was a real survival of the fittest kind of place.

Still though, they managed to make it through the twenty meters of jungle without actually seeing anything directly threatening. Seth had to divide his attention between his surroundings and the outpost ahead. He wondered what could have gone wrong. It really could be something as simple as a downed transmitter or bad weather, but he wasn't hearing anything. No voices, no hum of power, no activity of any kind, and he didn't see any lights on. The picture became clearer as he drew closer, and then, at last, he broke through the other side and the picture drew sharply into focus. And, all at once, he knew that it was _not_ just a broken transmitter.

"Holy crap," Jensen muttered behind him.

The outpost was largely a single structure, but there were a few others in its orbit. Several windows were broken out, there was blaster scarring across several of the surfaces, and he saw at least one dead body wearing Republic armor on the nearby landing pad. Seth scanned the area, then slipped over carefully to the landing pad and the corpse. Even as he approached it, he could tell that some of the local wildlife had been at work making good use of this fresh meat they'd been offered. The man was missing both his arms and there was a lot of meat missing out of his right thigh. Seth could see the bleached white of an exposed ribcage.

He'd been killed by…

"What the..." Seth whispered. There was a dart, a metal dart, sticking out of his eye. Carefully, he pulled it out. It made a disgusting squelching sound as it came out, and a strand of goo stretched out as he pulled the dart away from the man's ruined eye, like melted cheese when you pulled a slice of pizza away from the rest. He scraped it off on the man's wet uniform and then studied it.

"What is that?" Maya asked. They had joined him on the landing pad.

"It's Mandalorian. It's a dart. They use these sometimes, but it's rare. They can load them up with all sorts of crap: poison, explosives, sedatives. Whatever they want," he explained.

"It'd make sense that Mandalorians would hit this place," Nova growled.

"Yeah, I guess so," Seth replied, but something didn't feel right. He tossed the dart away and stood up, then pointed to the nearest building. "Jensen, Maya, I want you to check these exterior structures, look for hostiles, friendly survivors, and any clues as to what happened here. Nova and I will take the main building. Advise us when you've finished with your task and are approaching the primary structure."

"Understood," Maya replied.

She and Jensen headed to the nearest building, what looked to be a storage structure of basic permacrete, and he and Nova began to move towards the main building. It was a basic two-story structure, this time built of plates of dull gray metal. As they approached the main entrance, Seth suddenly felt the overwhelming conviction that he was being watched. He froze and looked around hastily, fervently hunting his environment for his unseen watcher.

"What?" Nova hissed.

"Being watched," he muttered.

She joined him in searching, but they could find nothing. Not much of a surprise, given the environment. Seth reigned in the urge to let out his frustration, instead pushing forward into the outpost. He could immediately tell that they had opted into a very basic design. It was so basic that it made him wonder if this was actually initially built as a Republic military outpost, or if it was originally something else and the Republic had just co-opted it. There was a simple square room meant as a basic ingress, the walls lined with doors. Four of them, placed more closely together, made up the left side. Three were off to the right, and the back wall had a stairwell leading up directly in the middle, and a door to either side.

"Check right, I'll check left, we meet in the middle," Seth murmured.

"Got it."

As he approached the first door, his radio crackled. _"Doesn't look like there's anything in the building. It looks largely untouched. Over,"_ Jensen reported.

"Understood. Kato, anything on your end? Over."

" _Negative. Some creatures are sniffing around the ship, otherwise there's nothing. Still nothing on the radio or scanners. Over,"_ she replied.

"Affirmative. Out."

The first room turned out to be a bedroom. It was small and jam-packed: a bunk-bed, dresser, desk, two footlockers, and a little bathroom at the back with a sink, toilet, and shower cubicle that he would be hard pressed to fit into, let alone have sex in. The place was untouched, and after clearing it, he moved onto the next one and found it in similar condition. The next two were also sleeping quarters. All revealed nothing.

The door on his side of the back wall had a descending stairwell built into it. It went down a little ways, then folded back on itself, heading to a basement area beneath the structure. Great. Seth shut the door, then considered the situation as he moved to join Nova. The base obviously had _some_ power left, because doors still worked, but none of the lights did. The dull gray light coming in through the broken windows was enough for now, although that wouldn't be the case once they went down into the basement.

"Anything?" Seth asked.

"A mess hall, a little infirmary, a recreational room, and an office. It looks like there was a shootout in the mess hall, otherwise this place is abandoned. You?"

"Four dorms and a basement. Dorms are empty," he replied.

"What next?"

"Let's get the basement out of the way."

He flicked on his flashlight and moved back over to the basement door, then opened it up and aimed his rifle down the stairs. It looked as ominous and foreboding as ever. With a sigh, he began moving down. While he descended, Nova backing him up, Seth got an update from Jensen. They had cleared another storage structure, finding nothing of value. They had one more building to check out and then they could join them.

The basement turned out to be smaller than he thought, and as he played his light over the tomb-like interior, he saw that it had been converted into a combination office/living area. A stack of crates served as a makeshift wall between the two areas. This place was messy, but untouched. He'd guess that it was messy from the people who lived here. At first he thought it might be a sucky place to live, but then he figured, if you were into places like this, it would be pretty cool to just have your own little hideaway.

They spent a bit clearing it, and by the time they were finished, the other team was giving their report. Maya spoke this time.

" _This building is the generator structure. It's been damaged, and it looks intentional,"_ she said.

Seth sighed as they went back upstairs. They came to stand at the base of the stairs leading to the second story. "Great. How bad is it?"

" _I wouldn't say unsalvageable, but it will be a project."_

"All right. Finish your sweep and meet us in here. We've already cleared out the basement and ground floor, we'll be upstairs."

" _Understood."_

"Let's go," he said, looking at Nova. She nodded tightly, weapon in hand, and they made their way slowly up the stairs, cautious of anything that might be lurking just around the next corner. The base felt dead to him, though. Seth was used to listening to his instincts, and they were telling him that they were alone for now. He could be wrong, but that rarely happened. Of course, this was a unique situation. He'd never been to Dxun before, and anything could have happened here. Given his track record since meeting Nova and the crew so far, it was probably something insane, lethal, and unreasonable. That seemed to be par for the course.

The stairway came to a landing, then two narrower stairways broke away to the left and right. He and Nova split up, each taking a door. They entered the room above at the same time and began clearing it. The second floor was basically one entire room. The control room. There were over half a dozen individual workstations along the walls, and a primary one at the head of the room. Seth slowly looked over the area, searching for clues, something was bugging him…

There. The window ahead of him had a hole in it, surrounded by cracks. Its trajectory brought it towards the center of the room. He tried to find where the projectile that had created that hole had landed, but couldn't find it along the wall. Instead, in its path, he found a bloodstain on the floor, near the middle of the room. He pointed this out to Nova after they had made sure the place was actually secure.

"That's disturbing," Nova murmured.

"Yeah, whoever did this..." Seth replied softly, walking over to the window and looking out it, at the dark foliage beyond, and a large tree maybe ten meters away. "They would have had to have been standing in that tree."

"That's a good shot, especially if it was one of those darts," Nova murmured.

"Great." He sighed, then turned around as he heard Maya and Jensen joining them.

"What's happening?" Maya asked.

"Well, it looks like the base is clear," Seth replied. "Split up, see if we can get any of these terminals working. I'd really like to see what's on their databases."

They all moved to different workstations and set to work, but it quickly became clear that this wasn't happening unless they provided their own power. Seth heaved yet another sigh and hit his radio. "Kato, the base looks clear. Bring the ship over to the landing pad." He hesitated. "Actually, wait five minutes, then do it. I need to get something off of the pad. Yex, you listening?"

" _I am listening, Seth,"_ Yex replied.

"Good. Once she's landed, I want you to come out here. Jensen will meet you and take you to the reactor. I want you to bring it back online as quickly as possible. Also, bring out a fully charged power cell. Kato, I want you and Seri to stay with the ship until further notice."

* * *

Seth jogged back downstairs and out into the rain, where he collected the half-eaten corpse. He brought it into the infirmary, where he found two beds occupied. Once was a man who had a neat hole in his forehead that didn't have singe marks. Seth figured it was the poor bastard who happened to be standing up there in the second story who'd taken the dart to the head. He felt uneasy. What was to stop that from happening again?

Kato parked the _Dauntless_ on the landing pad, and Jensen and Seth went to meet with Yex. Their friendly ithorian tech passed him the portable power cell, then went off with Jensen, clutching a compact but comprehensive toolkit, to the reactor. Seth rejoined the others back upstairs and hooked the cell up to the main terminal, then fired it up. Maya got to work sorting through the data, since she was the most adept at it.

Seth spent the time he was waiting thinking about what was going on here. He had some pieces of the puzzle, but not yet enough to get a clear image of what had happened here. And he needed to figure it out fast, because clearly he was dealing with someone, or something, extremely dangerous. He'd managed to make it this far without something serious happening to any one of them, (except himself, he supposed), and he'd like to get through the whole thing with that remaining true. He tried not to pace or peek over Maya's shoulder as she worked.

"I have something," Maya said.

"What is it?" Seth replied immediately, marching over to her. Nova did the same.

"I'll need more time to sort through this, as some of it's scrambled, but all I know for sure right now is that a few days ago, they made some kind of discovery. An old supply cache nearby that they went out to investigate," she replied.

"Not much of a lead," Seth muttered.

"Yeah, but it's all we've got right now-"

The radio crackled suddenly. _"Sergeant Kast, this is Kato. Over."_

"Kast here, go. Over," Seth replied immediately.

" _I just got a partial transmission from what may have been a Republic soldier in the region. It was very garbled, but I managed to get a very rough idea of where it came from. Over."_

Seth considered it. "Where?"

" _About a mile and a half due north. Over."_

Frowning, he studied the others, who looked back at him. He ran through the situation in his head, then made some decisions. "Kato, gear up and get out here. You're going with me. We're going to investigate the distress call. Jensen, Maya, you'll investigate the supply cache. Nova, I want you to stay here and help Yex get this base back online. Seri, you there?"

" _I'm here, Seth."_

"Stay with the ship, and also get the infirmary ready. We might bring back causalities."

" _Understood."_

Seth took a deep breath, let it out slowly, then popped his neck. "All right, let's do this."


	35. Chapter 35: Threat Unknown

"Can you play the transmission for me?" Seth asked.

He was standing in front of the main entrance to the outpost, checking over his rifle. Kato was doing the same.

"Uh, yeah. Hold on," she murmured, and then pulled a small datapad from her pocket. She tapped at it a few times, then held it up.

" _...is Private Kens...zzt...ollowing me! I...zzt...too fast! I need-"_ It cut off abruptly.

"Really useful," Seth muttered.

"Yeah," Kato replied, deactivating and replacing the datapad.

"Well, you're probably right, it's probably a Republic soldier. This sucks," he growled, and finished checking over his weapon. "Come on. Sooner we get there, sooner we can start a probably pointless search."

Kato just grunted. He set off, moving due north, and realized how bad of a mood he was in. He was pissy. This moon made him pissy. Only no, that wasn't right. He felt like something was wrong, besides the obvious, and after another minute of walking through the light rain and heavy vegetation, he realized what it was: he was sounding a little bitter and apathetic. Crap. Even if he actually felt that way, it was a bad idea to let that slip in front of the troops. Morale was a real thing, and apathy was death.

Although Kato looked pretty solid.

Nonetheless, he didn't really like complaining, least of all from himself.

While he tried to think of some kind of conversation to strike up, Seth studied the environment around them nigh continually. Everything was grim and forbidding. The skies were slate gray, laden with tension and the threat of a much worse storm. The path they had found was surrounded by thick, alien vegetation to either side that he swore was moving when he wasn't looking directly at it. Creatures lurked in the underbrush.

It seemed like they were getting closer.

Finally, he asked, "So, is this a step up from Hoth?"

"I'm not sure yet," Kato replied after a moment. "I need to spend some more time out and about. I mean, so far, yeah...I think. I want to say I prefer this to the cold, but even as I'm saying these words, the longer I stay here, the more I hate this humidity. And I'm _positive_ there are dangerous creatures hanging out. It's only a matter of time before they decide enough is enough and come out for a snack." She sighed. "Then again, I don't know. I mean, the trip was nice. Being here, with you all, it's...very interesting."

"How so?" Seth asked.

"It made me realize...I'm a little bit of an elitist bitch." He looked over at her. That wasn't what he was expecting.

"And that's...nice?"

She laughed. "Okay, maybe _nice_ isn't the right word. Important. I needed to know that. I've spent a long time around Republic soldiers, and eventually, at some point, I apparently slipped into the mindset that everyone else was incompetent. If you had described Seri or Yex or, man, Nova to me, I would have assumed they were incompetent, undisciplined, unprofessional people. And I was clearly wrong. I've just...seen too many people be indecisive, you know? Too many civilians panic or freeze up," she explained.

"We do it, too," Seth replied quietly.

"I know. You're right. That's why it's important. I needed that. I had a nice, long conversation with Yex. He's a really smart guy. Really patient. Yex...you know what he reminds me of?"

"What?"

"What a Jedi _should_ be."

"Yeah, I was thinking the same thing...what about Maya?"

"Still not sure about her." She smirked suddenly. "Are you sweet on her?"

"What?" he replied, shooting another glance at her. "She's a Jedi."

"So? You really gonna stand there and tell me that if she came onto you for a little fun, a little quiet fun that the other Jedi don't have to know about, you would turn her down?"

"Oh, of course not. I'd hop in bed with her."

"And how would Nova feel about that? Don't think I haven't noticed the way you two are all over each other."

He chuckled. "Well, uh...she'd be okay with it." He wanted to say, 'she'd hop right in that bed, too', but maybe that was too much information.

"Oh _really?_ So that's the kind of relationship you have, huh?"

"We have...what you might call a casual relationship," Seth replied. "What about you? What kind of relationship do you have?"

"Me? None. I haven't had a real relationship for awhile. Haven't even had a casual one for a few months now. Since before Hoth."

"Seriously? That'd be the best way to keep warm on that damned iceball."

"Yeah, I know. I'm a little picky, even for casual stuff, and...guys don't react to me super well, I've noticed."

"What, really?"

"Yeah. I scare them."

"...really?"

"Yeah. What, you don't see it?"

"Can't say that I do."

She glanced at him. "Well, I guess a lot wouldn't intimidate you." She began to say something else, but was cut off as something growled. Something very nearby. They both froze, weapons raised, waiting for the attack that was certainly to come. Things lurked to either side of the rough pathway they had been walking down. Vegetation trembled and with a chorus of curious, almost barking growls, a half dozen stubby, well-built creatures leaped out onto the path.

"Cannoks!" Kato snapped.

Well, at least she'd read the briefing Maya had passed out on the way out there. Cannoks were one of the many things that inhabited this miserable moon. They were short, ugly, four-legged creatures with eyes on short stalks that stuck out of the sides of their big heads, wrinkled yellow-green skin, and enormous mouths.

Apparently, they ate just about anything.

Seth took aim at the nearest one as they all bolted towards the pair. Well, it was about to eat blaster bolts. He squeezed the trigger and hosed the nasty little bastard down with a spray of blaster rifle. The bolts of energy pretty much ripped it to cauterized ribbons and sprayed the others, which only seemed to send them into an even more frantic frenzy. Kato opened up as well, her blaster rifle joining his, and they began cutting the things down.

Their bodies fell to pieces, becoming scattered across the trail, but that only drew _more_ of the hideous things.

It was like the dinner bell had been sounded.

A dozen more cannoks spilled out onto the path, barking and growling and snapping their big jaws together as they raced towards the fresh meat. Seth cursed and laid down a fresh line of suppressing fire while backing up.

He glanced behind him. "Damn!" he snapped, seeing even more had appeared back the way they'd come.

"Now what?!" Kato snapped as she ejected a drained energy clip, slapped a fresh one in, and resumed fire on the encroaching group.

"Simple! Follow the number one rule of the jungle!" Seth replied.

"And what's that!?"

"Show 'em we're number one!"

He primed and tossed a grenade ahead of them, then did the same behind them, then pretty much tackled her into the treeline to get out of the way of the blasts. Twin thunderclaps sounded and shoved them violently deeper into the underbrush. Seth scrambled back to a sitting position, rifle in hand, trying to get his hearing back, as he waited for the surviving cannoks to mount an assault. Only that didn't happen.

Evidently it had worked.

"You know, Seth, there are easier ways to get me on my back," Kato said.

He looked at her, at first uncertain if he'd actually heard that right. She was sitting up, looking at him with a little bit of a smirk. "Uh...sorry," he replied after a moment.

She laughed, got to her feet, and dusted herself off. "It's fine. It worked, obviously. Beats being cannok food. You...take a lot of risks, don't you?"

"Did you pay attention to _anything_ I did back on Hoth?" he asked as he got up.

"Fair point. Guess that already feels like last month. Shifting between worlds through outer space, especially with _this_ much contrast between the two...it really screws with your perception."

"Oh yeah, tell me about it," he muttered.

"How long have you been at it?" she asked.

"Twelve years."

She let out a long, low whistle as they headed back out onto the path. "That's a _long_ time. I mean, man, that's a _long_ time. That means you've been through the Mandalorian Wars too."

"Yep."

"Damn. No wonder they tagged you for this mission."

"More luck than anything else."

"Pretty sure they'd say something like, 'there is no luck, there's just the Force'."

"Yeah, I think they might've actually said that to me. Well, come on, let's get a move on. I really don't want to be here when whatever eats cannok guts shows up."

She made a face, looking around at all the corpses. "Point."

They hurried off up the path.

* * *

Seth raised a fist, becoming as still as a statue, and Kato froze as he did. "We've got a casualty."

The pathway finally opened into a clearing. To the right side was a large rock sheer that was covered in vegetation. The silver armored soldier sitting against it stuck out like a sore thumb. Seth scanned the area for signs of hostile activity, but he saw and heard nothing. Just the omnipresent whisper of the rain and minute but continual shifting of the jungle around them.

"Cover me," he whispered.

"Affirmative," Kato replied tightly.

He made his way quickly across the clearing. The Republic soldier didn't seem to be moving at all, not even breathing. His hands were clutched over his gut and Seth could already see some blood. As he drew closer, he suddenly got slammed with that feeling again: being watched. Not just watched, but scrutinized intensely. He still had no idea how he knew that, or even if he was right. But he was positive someone, or something, was watching him right now.

"What's wrong?" Kato whispered.

"Being watched," he replied.

She grunted and scanned the area again. He was just going to have to trust her to watch his back. Not that he didn't, but even the best wasn't perfect. He reached the soldier and dropped into a crouch. Reaching out, he pressed the tips of his first two fingers to the man's neck. No pulse. He was definitely dead. Seth carefully pulled his hands away from the wound, then winced.

"Holy crap," he whispered.

Something had blown a hole clean through his gut: armor, uniform, and all. There was a good amount of blood. And it wasn't cauterized. Well then how had it happened? Seth felt a shock of cold as he checked the wound more closely. It looked like...blunt force. Had someone _punched_ a hole through him!? There were strength enhancers out there, and if you were already pretty big and strong...yeah, it was definitely doable.

There were aliens that could do this, but if it had been a gamorrean or a wookie, this would be a hole the size of a dinner plate.

He checked the nameplate embedded in the soldier's chest armor, remembering the transmission. It read **PVT. KENSINGTON, P**.

Yep, that matched. Well, that was one mystery solved.

Sort of.

Seth stood up and turned around, fervently hunting the surrounding area again. Kato stood tensely back at the entrance of the clearing, doing the same.

What was going on here? What had _happened_ in this-

Seth caught the barest ripple of movement that, although it was extremely slight and barely noticeable, it immediately had internal warning alarms going off on red alert. He recognized it for what it was in an instant.

A stealth field.

It was high up and he raised his rifle.

" _Contact!_ " he screamed, and opened fire.

The same second he did, something shot back at him and he barely managed to sidestep out of the way. Whatever it was, it sliced through the air _right_ next to his face. Twin sprays of bright white blaster fire converged on the location of the mystery person as Kato joined him, and Seth saw the figure leap to another branch. He kept firing, hoping to hit it at least once. It wasn't _that_ difficult to disrupt a stealth field, but this one had to be _good_ , because typically if you moved too fast you'd disrupt it yourself.

You couldn't run _and_ use a stealth field generator under normal circumstances.

The blaster fire cut through the vegetation, detaching branches and blowing off chunks of bark, lighting little fires that immediately guttered and died in the wet environment. Several more things shot out and Seth suddenly felt an explosion of pain in his gut. He shouted a curse and dropped on his ass, from the impact, the surprise, and the slippery-ass mud beneath his feet. He grit his teeth and kept on firing.

He could just barely make out the figure, which was still moving. He heard Kato shout in pain. The figure leaped and hit the ground in a splash of water and mud. Seth rolled as a trio of what he finally recognized as those damned darts came at him. He just managed to avoid them but heard a loud whining noise.

Bombs!

He snagged and primed a fragmentation grenade as he scrambled to his feet, and as he started lumbering away, running at full tilt towards the nearest treeline, he threw the grenade in the rough direction of the cloaked figure.

The clearing exploded and the force of the blast physically picked him up and flung him forward. Seth screamed in panic and pain as he sailed through the air and then slammed into a big tree. The breath was driven from his lungs as he smashed to the ground, and he gasped, wheezing painfully as he struggled to regain his feet.

 _Come on,_ he thought furiously as he tried to look through the haze of dirt and debris, _ignore the pain, you've had worse. Get over it and get your ass up!_

He got to his feet, but no more darts flew at him out of the fog.

"Kato!?" he shouted, then groaned. His gut was in agony now.

"Here!" she yelled back, coughing.

"You see anything?! You hit!?"

"No, nothing! I'm fine!" She didn't sound fine.

Seth snatched back up his rifle and waited for the dust to clear. They both remained silent and still, prepared to leap back into action. His guts burned and ached like crazy. Finally, the debris settled and they were alone in the clearing.

"I still don't see anything," Kato said finally.

"Neither do I." He groaned. "Damn."

"What-you're hit. You're bleeding. A lot."

"I noticed," he muttered, looking down.

Kato jogged over and crouched before him, pulling open a medical kit. "Keep watch," she said quietly as she got to work.

"Yep," he replied tightly, looking around. One of those darts was sticking out of him. The place they were in was a dead-end, and he didn't see any sign of their attacker. He could be wrong, but he didn't feel like he was being watched anymore. Which meant-

"This is gonna hurt," Kato said, and instantly he felt a blinding explosion of pain.

"Son of a _bitch!_ " he yelled through gritted teeth. He wanted to yell a whole lot more at her, but he knew the drill. You didn't give people time to get ready when you had to hurt them, it just let them build up the suspense even more, and then suddenly it was, 'Wait, I'm not ready!...just give me a minute...' Which became two minutes, which became three. No, you had to just do it. So he kept his mouth shut and kept watch as she cleaned out the wound to the best of her ability, given the fact that she was working through his armor.

Really, she just did a patch job, which was going to have to work.

"Now what?" she asked as she got back to her feet.

"Now I talk to the others and you search that body for clues," Seth replied.

"On it." She walked away.

He activated his radio. "Seth to Maya, come back. Over."

A pause. _"Maya here, Seth. Are you okay? You sound like you're in pain. Over."_

"Got shot by one of those darts and thrown around pretty good. Ran into a hostile. It looks like a cloaked sentient. And they've got one damned good stealth generator. They're fast and capable. So you keep an eye out. Over," Seth replied.

" _Understood."_ She paused. _"Did you find anything else? Over."_

"One dead soldier. Very dead. And a dead-end. Kato's searching the body now. Anything on your end? Over."

" _No. The supply cache is cleaned out. Looks like an old Mandalorian job. A very simple setup in a cave with a heavy lock on it. But the lock's been broken open. There's nothing here. What do you want to do? Over."_

"Return to base. We'll have to figure something else out. Over."

" _Understood. We'll get going. Over."_

"Good. Out."

Seth saw Kato returning. She had a patch over her right shoulder. "Nothing on him."

"You were hit," he said, nodding to her shoulder.

"Yeah. Slapped a patch over it. Grazed by one of those darts. Whatever they are, they're tough...what was that thing?"

"I think I know. But let's regroup with the others."


	36. Chapter 36: Survivors

Seth's mind raced the whole way back to the outpost.

Even his growing attraction to Kato couldn't derail the paranoia that now laced his thoughts. The jungle around them seemed a living thing, a malevolent, omniscient presence that watched them with the cold malignancy of cancer, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. And nothing seemed to exemplify this reality more than the strange, cloaked being they had encountered in the clearing. Seth kept seeing the man, (for some reason, he was convinced that it was male, he had no idea _why_ this conviction stuck with him), as an uncertain outline, cloaked in a field of stealth technology and wreathed in writhing smoke.

He could be anywhere. He could be watching them right now.

Seth and Kato did not share a single word as they hurried back to base. His guts were hurting like a bitch now. That dart had _teeth_. Glancing down once at the patch slapped over his armor was a mistake, because he saw that it was stained red, and his skin was slick and wet around the area inside the suit. He was bleeding. Faster they got back to the outpost, the better. As they walked, Seth tried to push past the pain and the fear and the anxious paranoia edged faintly but perceptibly with panic, instead trying to think of a way to deal with this situation. They needed information, but they also needed a plan for dealing with this rogue element.

He only had a few ideas by the time they got back, none of them very appealing.

"Okay, we need to regroup, figure this out," Seth said as they finally made it back.

"You need to get to Seri," Kato replied. "You're bleeding."

"I'm fine," Seth replied. " _You_ go to Seri."

"I'm fine, Seth," she said, rolling her eyes.

" _You're_ bleeding."

She glanced at the patch on her shoulder, which was now stained red, which was running down her armor, mixing with the rainwater that still fell. "Dammit," she muttered. "Fine. We both go."

"Fine," Seth replied, and they began marching towards the ship. He activated his radio. "Maya, where are you? Over."

" _Almost back. Is everything okay? Over."_

"Yeah. Meet me in the infirmary on the ship. Over." He activated the ramp. "Nova, Yex, meet me in the infirmary on the ship, too. We need to sort this mess out. Out."

He and Kato walked up the ramp. His gut was really damn hurting. They found Seri already waiting for them in the infirmary.

"I was listening," she said. "Take off your armor and lay down."

"Yep," Seth replied and began to strip off the top part of his armor. It was painful, miserable work, but by the time he was topless and laid out on one of the two examination tables, the others were crowding into the room.

"So what _happened_ out there?" Nova asked, looking angry and anxious, staring at his wound.

"We were attacked by a cloaked figure. I have no idea who or why, but whatever stealth tech they have, it is _powerful._ They could run and jump _and_ remained cloaked," Seth replied.

"Is that possible?" Jensen asked quietly.

"Clearly it's possible," Kato replied, then winced as Seri began cleaning her wound. She'd come to Seth first, but he'd waved her off and begun cleaning his own wound.

He grunted, feeling the biting sting of pain as he carefully wiped away the blood around his wound. It was small but ugly, in the mid-right portion of his gut. Near his liver. Not a great place, but he didn't think he was screwed. "Obviously, this person is causing trouble. They have darts, Mandalorian darts, on a moon known for Mandalorians. So I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that we might be dealing with a Mandalorian."

Nova let out a strong huff of anger, and he was right there with her. Mandalorians were monsters. "So what do we do?" Jensen asked.

"Nova, where are we with the technology? Have you found out anything about the scanners? The radios?" he asked.

"We're definitely being blocked by something, some piece of tech. Also, the base scanners are trashed," Nova replied. "And it looks like they tried to rig them at one point. There was a surge of power, an overload it looks like."

"Great. Well, that's going to be a priority-dammit!" he yelled as he grazed an exposed bit of his insides with the sterilization pad.

"Seth, will you lay back and let me do it?!" Seri snapped. "I'll be done in a second."

"You can go, I've got this-" Kato said, but Seri cut her off.

"No!" she snapped, and Seth glanced over. He didn't think he'd ever heard Seri outright angry before. "You are going to _lay there_ and you are going to _let me work,_ " she growled.

"...okay," Kato replied, and Seth was genuinely impressed. Kato did not seem like an easy woman to intimidate.

Damn, _he_ was feeling intimidated right now.

"I'm sorry," Seri said after a moment as she carefully placed some kolto over Kato's shoulder wound. "I get tired of you soldier types always insisting that you can do it yourselves, then half the time botching it up and making my job harder. Especially when I'm..." she hesitated for a few seconds, "...when I care about you more than I usually would."

"Sorry, Seri," Seth said quietly.

"It's fine." She sealed off Kato's wound with a bandage and then gave her a small injection. "Lay down and don't move for now."

"Okay," Kato replied.

"Thank you." She moved over to Seth and began to finish off the job he'd started. She sighed. "These darts are awful."

"Tell me about it," Seth groaned. "So this is what I'm thinking. Since waiting and searching blindly are stupid ideas, and the tech is currently unreliable, I think..." he looked reluctantly at Maya, "we need the Force."

She frowned, staring back at him. "I was worried you might say that."

"What does that mean, exactly?" Jensen asked.

"Like back on Hoth, when I helped find that downed resupply shuttle," Maya replied.

"Oh! So you can...find other people then? Other survivors?"

"If they're out there to find, probably," she said. "But it will be a very taxing undertaking and will likely leave me flat out of commission for several hours."

"And you're our most capable fighter," Seth said, then grit his teeth as Seri hit something painful. "But I think it's a sacrifice we're going to have to make...if you're willing."

"I am," she said. "I'll need time to prepare and time to search." She sighed. "I'll be in my quarters."

"Thank you, Maya," Seth said awkwardly as she left.

She didn't say anything, slipping away from the infirmary.

"That's going to be a real bitch for her," Nova murmured. "This place is _teeming_ with life, pretty much the opposite of Hoth."

"Yeah, it's a bad proposition," Seth replied. "But right now we're screwed otherwise. I'm not really in the habit of waiting for trouble to come my way, I'd rather go find it."

"Yeah," Jensen muttered. "Same."

"Yex, where are we at with the reactor?"

" _Not in a good place, unfortunately,_ " Yex replied. " _The damage is more extensive than I initially believed. I think our best course at present, if we desire power, is to hook the outpost up to the ship. We can siphon some power off that way and get at least basic functionality._ "

Seth sighed. "Okay, do it." He paused, considering. "Will the ship's scanners be powerful enough to track a cloaked entity like this with _any_ reliability at all?"

"No," Kato said.

" _The base scanners might be or, if not, we could boost them, as those before us did,_ " Yex said, lingering in the doorway.

"Okay. Yex, get the ship rigged as fast as you can. Nova, help him. Kato, as soon as you can, get to work on looking at the outpost's scanners. Jensen, you assist. Actually, head over there now and start seeing what you can see," Seth said.

They all responded affirmatively and Yex, Nova, and Jensen left the infirmary.

"There," Seri murmured as she smoothed a bandage gently over his wound. "Hold still." She stuck him with a needle and carefully injected what he assumed was an antibiotic/antiviral solution. It burned going in, but he was used to that by now. "Done."

"Thank you. How long do I have to stay down?"

"I put kolto in there as much as I could, to accelerate the healing, but I'd say you need to lay down for as long as possible. Kato...you can be up and moving in no shorter than one hour, but _please_ be careful, and try not to move around too much."

"I'll see what I can do about that," she replied.

"Seth, you got lucky, so please do not push your luck," Seri said, laying her hands on his bicep, looking worriedly down at him.

"I can't honestly promise that, Seri. You know that," Seth replied.

She sighed softly. "I know. I just...worry about you."

"I don't blame you," he said. "I lead a stressful life."

"Don't we all?" she murmured. She squeezed his arm gently, then left the infirmary. Seth sighed softly and laid back.

"She really likes you, huh?" Kato asked.

"Yeah. Seri is a very good person, her and Yex and Nova and Maya, they're great people," he replied, looking down at the patch over his stomach. The kolto was helping, but it still kind of hurt. This was going to be a real bastard of a situation. With a soft sigh, he settled in, trying to get comfortable.

Maybe he could get a nap in before Maya was finished.

* * *

Maya took four hours to find something.

Seth couldn't find it in himself to be upset or even frustrated with her for several reasons, but mainly because, when she woke him from his light doze in the infirmary, he looked up into her gray eyes and saw a deep exhaustion. He could see it on her face. She looked haggard and miserable and lethargic.

"I found something," she said.

"What?" he asked, sitting up.

"Three people, three kilometers south of here." She set a datapad on the bed next to him. "I marked it on a map there. I don't know if they're Republic, but they aren't of the Dark Side, I know that much. And no, I couldn't hone in on the cloaked figure. Now, I need to go sleep."

"Maya-"

"I _need_ to sleep, Seth," she said firmly.

"I understand. I'm sorry. Thank you for this," he replied.

"You're welcome...make it count."

"I will," he promised, grabbing the datapad and firing it up. He watched her go out of the room, uncomfortable with how she swayed as she walked, almost as though she were drunk, and after she had gone, and he heard the door to her quarters close, he looked down and began studying the map. Where she'd gotten it, he wasn't sure, but he figured it was probably from the outpost's computers. They would have to follow a few paths, but it shouldn't be _too_ difficult to get there. Of course, there was a difference between looking at a map and actually navigating terrain right there, in person. And that difference could be vast.

He finished studying the information, then got up. There was a lot to do, and as he popped a few painkillers and then strode out of the infirmary, he felt his soldier persona slip comfortably into place. Seth felt best when he had a clear goal and a solid objective, and the means to carry them out. He first went to his bedroom, finding a fresh shirt and pulling it on, wincing at the pain in his gut. From there, he strode to the armory, where he found the top part of his armor. When Kato had left after the hour was up, he had asked her to make repairs to his chestplate, and she had agreed, telling him she'd leave it in the armory.

Seth pulled it carefully into place, then activated his radio. He began checking in with the others as he started reassembling his arsenal.

"Seth here, Yex, how's the power coming? Over."

" _I have successfully hooked the power to the outpost's reactor and have since moved on to assist Kato with the scanners,"_ Yex replied.

"Okay, you two keep at it. Jensen, Nova?" he asked.

" _Once Yex showed up to help Kato, we got to work inventorying supplies. We've been finding guns, ammo, and medical supplies,"_ Nova replied. _"You okay, babe?"_

"Fine. My gut hurts, but otherwise I'm fine. I'm getting back into action. Maya has something. She's found three survivors three kliks south of here. Nova and Jensen, get here to the ship's armory and grab whatever gear you need, we're going after them. Yex, Kato, Seri, it's going to be your responsibility to guard this place while we're gone. Stay in contact as much as you can, I don't know how long we're going to be able to rely on our radios," Seth said, and suddenly wondered _why_ they'd been able to talk to each other earlier, why they could now…

"Actually," he said, "stay off the radio as much as possible. Don't use the radios unless it's an emergency."

Unless that bastard out there wanted them to sometimes be able to use their radios.

Because he was listening in.

" _Why?"_ Nova asked uncertainly.

"Tell you later. I need all four of you to confirm that order," he said firmly.

They all confirmed. "Good. I'll speak with you later."

Well, this was looking bad.

* * *

Seth held up a fist and the others froze behind him.

He'd sensed something out there, in the jungle. Several rainy moments slipped slowly by, and nothing came of it. Cautiously, he had them resume their journey. They'd made it most of the way there. He'd verbally relayed both his suspicions about the radio and Maya's condition to Seri, Yex, and Kato after updating Nova and Jensen once they'd gotten there. He was deeply grateful that he hadn't let that slip before it had occurred to him that someone might be listening. He'd been deeply tempted to try and reach out to the other survivors, but had sat on that urge. They'd already given enough information away, potentially.

After gearing up, they'd headed out, making quick progress into the jungle. So far, nothing had screwed with them, but he doubted that was going to hold up a lot longer. It felt good to have Nova at his back again. Her presence had become deeply comforting, something that both worried and boosted him. As they pressed on down the narrow path between heavy treelines to either side and a thick canopy overhead, casting them in unhappy shadows, he found himself worrying about Maya. She was pushing herself hard.

In a way, he was glad to be experiencing this worry.

Seth didn't consider himself bigoted, or at the very least he liked to think that he largely wasn't, and if he was, he was tough enough to own up to it and try to change it, but he had to admit that he had a heavy bias against Force users. Although he had a really good reason for it, bias was bias. Getting to know Maya...helped with that. She was kind, she was diligent, she was professional, she was...a friend. It was comforting to know that he could care about a Jedi, worry about one. All that aside, he _was_ worried about her.

But he also knew what it was to sacrifice. He had sacrificed...a _lot_ for the Republic. Time, pain, his health, (physical, mental, and emotional). His sanity, from time to time. His sense of self, his identity. Seth still felt like it was worth it. It was worth picking up a blaster rifle, pulling on some armor, and telling the Sith where they could stick it. But it was hard. It was so hard sometimes. So he knew what it was to sacrifice…

He just wished they didn't have to sacrifice so much, so often.

Seth heard something up ahead, someone talking maybe. He began to issue orders, as this was about the area they needed to get to, when he suddenly heard someone shout and blasters start firing off. He cursed and began running forward.

"Republic Forces, coming in! Friendlies, coming in!" he screamed as he broke the treeline up ahead. He saw two people standing and one leaning against a rock, holding a pistol. They were firing at a pack of creatures coming at them, snarling and growling. They weren't cannoks, Seth realized as he shifted to get a better aim, shouldering his rifle, they were something else. The name came to him as he sighted the first one.

Maalraas.

They were long, lean, angular quadrupeds cast in greenish skin with whipcord tails, _huge_ teeth, and big damned claws. And apparently they were fast and viscous. He, Nova, and Jensen immediately jumped into the fight, taking up defensive positions.

"Keep them off the soldiers!" Seth shouted as he put a burst of blaster fire into one of the maalraas as it jumped for one of the survivors, (who were indeed members of the Republic Army), and punched solid holes through its narrow chest. Its body tripped up another, and Seth put it down as it tried to regain its feet. Nova and Jensen sprayed fire into the creatures as they spilled from the jungle like a tide of death, jaws snapping and claws kicking up runs of dirt as they ran with an animal focus towards their intended prey.

Seth kept moving up, getting closer to the bulk of them, trying to draw them off. He put down another pair, then a trio, then literally blew the head clean off another one with a charged-up shot. As his gun began to overheat, he snagged a concussion grenade and primed it, then tossed it overhand towards the biggest cluster of them.

"Concussion out!" he called.

It landed among them and then blasted them, sending them flying every which way. They landed everywhere, bones crunching and snapping, making them way easier targets. Seth quickly switched to single shot and began punching holes in their heads as fast as he could. He splattered beast brains across the rainy landscape, squeezing the trigger again and again, the muzzle flare lighting up his tired, bloodshot eyes. And within a few more moments, with the help of the others, he finally managed to put down the last of the viscous beasts.

As soon as it fell silent, one of the soldiers in the clearing whirled around and covered them with his blaster rifle. He was breathing heavily, eyes wide and stricken. He looked awful. "Who are you?" he asked flatly.

"Sergeant Seth Kast, Republic Army," Seth replied, the words basically automatic at this point.

He studied Seth for a few seconds longer, then his eyes flicked to Nova and Jensen, and then he lowered his rifle. "I'm sorry. It's been...a very taxing few days."

"Understandable," Seth replied.

Behind him, the other standing figure turned and hurried over to the one who was laying against the rock, groaning in pain.

"Why are you here?"

"We've got our own mission, and we were to use your outpost as a base, then you stopped reporting in, so we also got sent in to check on you," Seth replied.

"How many are you? How many other soldiers?"

Seth tried not to wince. "There's a Jedi, a combat tech, and two civilians back at base, a medic and a tech."

The man frowned, then sighed and ran a hand down his gaunt, tanned face. "Whatever. We need help, I don't much care where it comes from right now. Um...I'm Corporal Baxton. Highest ranking member left, as far as I know...was there anyone back at base?"

"No," Seth replied. "And we haven't encountered any other survivors." That was technically a lie, but relaying the story of the soldier in the clearing with his guts punched through wouldn't help.

"Damn," Baxton muttered.

"What happened?" Seth asked.

Baxton sighed and shook his head angrily. "Bastard showed up three days ago. We started noticing our comms and sensors were acting screwy. We were in the process of checking for old supply caches from the Mandalorian Wars. We spent the first day pretty much oblivious, but by the second day, yesterday, people we'd sent out didn't come back. There's dozens of things that could've gone wrong, especially in a miserable place like this, so we normally don't think too much of it. But the radio and scanners were out, so..."

He frowned, staring down at the ground for a moment. "We sent a few more people out, and for awhile they didn't come back either. Finally, a few got back, and they were in a bad state, raving about some invisible stalker coming after them. While we were debating about how to handle that, the power died, and then we were attacked by...him. He shot our commanding officer right through the glass, right in the eye, up in the control room."

Seth flashed back to finding that bloodstain, and the broken glass, thinking it would be a difficult shot to make. He shuddered.

"We fought, but he was fast, and damn near invisible, and clearly a skilled fighter."

"Has anyone actually _seen_ this guy? Without the cloaking?" Nova asked.

"No, but it's a Mandalorian, I'm almost sure. My Sergeant was in the Mandalorian Wars and he said he fought like one. We all kind of scattered after that. Earlier today, we finally managed to regroup and headed back to the base. We overcooked our scanners and rigged a power cell up to them, and managed to get a single burst off, and we tracked what we believe to be the bastard's camp, where he's got the blocking technology located, at least. So we geared up and headed out, and...well, let's just say that it hasn't gone well..." He looked back at the other two. "How's he doing?"

"Not good," the medic, a grim-faced woman with pale blonde hair, replied. The soldier she was working on was a miserable looking kid who couldn't be out of his early twenties, maybe not even his teens. He'd been hit in the gut by whatever it was.

"Where is this place, exactly?" Seth asked, pulling out his datapad and activating the map that Maya had gotten him.

"About another two kliks southeast of here," Baxton replied, accepting it and looking over the screen. He tapped something out a moment later, then passed it back. Seth saw that he'd added a navigational beacon. "I think it's a cave."

"All right, I want you to finish patching up your injured man, then get back to the outpost and hold it. Jensen! You're going to escort them back. Nova and I will continue on and deal with this problem, then regroup at the outpost," Seth replied.

Baxton stared at him uncertainly. "Are you...sure? This guy is pretty tough, and it isn't exactly a picnic out there."

"We can handle it," Seth replied. "And stay off the radio. We had working radios earlier, which got me suspicious: I think he might be listening."

Baxton frowned. "Of course he is...understood. I guess we'll meet you back at the outpost, Sergeant...thank you."

"You're welcome. Good luck."

"And you."

Seth looked at Nova. "You ready?"

"Damn right I'm ready, let's do this," she replied.


	37. Chapter 37: Hostile Territory

The blaster rifle was a reassuring weight in Seth's hands, but it wasn't nearly as comforting as it had been even a few hours ago.

He and Nova walked through the jungle, their pace as sure and steady as they could make it. Neither had spoken a word since leaving the others and plunging into the foliage. It was still raining, and it was beginning to pick up. Seth tried to tell himself that he could handle it, that they both could, but he knew that the odds were bad. He felt decently confident that they were facing a Mandalorian, and they'd each killed a lot of them over the years, especially back during the Mandalorian Wars, but this was different.

Seth continually scanned the trees and plant life around them as they pushed southeast. They'd made it almost a klik so far, by his count, so halfway there. Roughly. Hopefully. This was all rather imprecise science and he'd kill to have some working tech. But he had a good sense of direction, and his instincts were honed enough that he wasn't completely lost in this environment. His mind was wandering a bit, though, background thoughts drifting through his cranium. He found himself wanting to meditate. That still wasn't as routine as it should be, not that his life had been routine lately. And he'd kill for some green tea right about now.

That made him think of Maya, and her relaxation techniques.

As he walked through the rainy jungles of Dxun, Seth tried to imagine his problems, his anxieties and frustrations and fears, as a ball of red light in his head. He could see it with surprising clarity. That little light show with Maya really seemed to have helped him be able to focus on stuff like this. He concentrated on that ball of red light, and allowing it to solidify, to really take shape, to have weight in his head.

And then he imagined blowing it out.

It disappeared in a puff of red light, diffusing into the darkness around it, and he felt his body relax, his muscles release their tension. That worked a lot better than he ever thought something like it would. Not that he was totally carefree now. But he felt calmer, more ready to take this on. Nothing had changed but his own perception, and sometimes that was enough. If the situation was screwed, then it was screwed, and often, the only thing you could directly control was how you reacted to the situation. And it paid to chill out, because the situation might not be as screwed as you thought it was. That could just be your own fear and anxiety.

Although this situation was pretty bad.

Dxun was a shit environment, especially if you were being hunted by an expert in stealth. The Mandalorians were usually the 'come at you screaming' type, but they could hunt with the best of them. And they had that obsessive, cult-like devotion to war that meant that they could relentlessly focus on something until they were amazing at it. Especially if they had years or decades. Whoever this guy was, he was obviously good, and it was probably going to take some real damned luck to take him down.

He'd already pretty much wiped out a Republic outpost.

It wasn't like a huge outpost or anything, as far as outposts went, it was kind of skeleton crew, but still, that was impressive. And intimidating. But if they could just take this bastard's jammer out, they would take away one of his most powerful abilities. It wouldn't make taking him down _easy_ , per say, but it might make it easier.

"I think we might be getting close," Nova murmured.

Seth looked around and realized that she could be right. Something was different about the area they had just come into, but at first he couldn't place it, only that it made him even more anxious. Finally, he had it: it was quiet. When there was a predator about, things tended to shut up, and even native wildlife could recognize something like what they were facing as a dangerous predator. It could indicate that they were on his turf, or that something else was around. Either way, it felt like a bad place to be.

Kind of like the quiet before the storm.

They kept going, hunting around through the dense foliage for wherever the Mandalorian may have hidden his cache. Seth began to worry after ten minutes. Honestly, it was kind of a losing proposition. Of course the bastard would hide it, and hide it well. But he and Nova were good at sniffing out stuff like this, he being a veteran soldier and her being a veteran bounty hunter. So how to track it down then? Well, if they could find the path the Mandalorian took, then that would certainly be a lot of help.

But how to do that? The guy was stealthy, obviously good at covering his tracks. Then again, did he even leave any tracks? He seemed to spend a lot of time in the-

Seth looked up.

The trees.

They were dense, packed together often, and appeared to support a lot of weight in the right areas. So where were the right areas?

"Nova, maybe we should be looking up," he said.

"What?" she asked, her gaze shooting skywards. "Oh..." she murmured, and they continued their search.

After another five minutes, he found something: a scrape that looked oddly peculiar. It seemed to stand out almost like a signal flare among the vegetation and trees and foliage. He looked up, higher, and saw a few more. Pointing them out to Nova, he began to follow them. She joined him. There weren't many, but there were enough. He could be wrong, this could be a creature, something he hadn't seen yet, something he didn't know about, there were probably dozens of different species around, hundreds even.

But this was all they had to go on right now, and this couldn't drag out for too long. The longer they stuck around hunting, the higher a chance of something bad happening was. And then, finally, after another ten minutes of running down a few false leads, Seth basically tripped into the cave. There was a rock wall they found and it was covered in giant leaves. He was walking along it, looking for an opening, when he tripped over a root sticking up out of the ground like a son of a bitch and fell into the rock wall.

Then he fell _through_ it.

Or rather, he fell onto a patch of huge green leaves that had nothing behind them. He shouted in surprise and managed to catch himself by grabbing the corner of the rock wall by the opening, and regained his feet.

"I think I found it," he said.

There was a narrow gap that was just barely big enough for him to fit through with his armor. It was almost perfect. "Only one way to find out. I've got your back."

He was tempted to tell her to stay put, guard the entrance, but he didn't want to go in alone...plus, the Mandalorian might be in there. If he was, he knew they were here, after that display. Seth pulled out his pistol and began charging it up. He slipped forward, making his way carefully through the narrow opening in the cave wall. Before long, he began to hear a very soft sound: the white noise of functional machinery, a kind of continuous whirring sound.

This _had_ to be it.

Finally, the gap widened and he came into an open area. Seth hit his flashlight, given that he couldn't see hardly anything save for a few very small lights a little ways away. He imagined the Mandalorian had light-amps built into his helmet, or maybe was just that good at operating in the darkness. His light revealed a small cave.

They had found it.

There was a simple bedroom, a workbench cobbled together from what looked like spare parts and broken furniture, a chemical toilet stuffed in one corner, and a table that might serve as a kitchen. There was a lot of blood staining its surface, and it held several cutting implements. So, he caught, killed, and skinned his own food.

Well, that fit with everything else Seth had seen so far.

And there, pressed up against the back wall, was a squat, blinking piece of technology. It was basically a square of metal, with a simple interface, and a miniature comms tower sticking out of the top. "Son of a bitch," Nova growled.

"Let's ruin his day," Seth said. He aimed the pistol he'd been charging at the piece of tech, then pulled the trigger. The overcharged shot nailed it directly and it exploded into pieces with a satisfying pop and a shower of sparks and metal. "Head back out, I'm going to toss a damned frag grenade in here," he said.

Nova grinned and chuckled darkly, then quickly began making her way back out. He followed after her, grabbing one of his fragmentation grenades and prepping it. As soon as they were back at the entrance and she was fully out, he primed it and threw it back the way they'd come, then quickly got out of the way to avoid the blast of concussive force and metal fragments. A few seconds later, a thunderclap of an explosion sounded and a rush of dust blew out of the opening.

"Ha, we nailed that son of a-"

Something sailed through the air and nailed her in the shoulder. Nova screamed in pain and rage and Seth reacted immediately, aiming his pistol in the direction of the attack. And there he was. In the rain, he could just make out the form of the Mandalorian, the water bouncing and beading and running across his armor.

He was large.

Taller than Seth was. Still, it was hard to truly make out accurate dimensions because of the stealth field. With perfect silence, he began firing off more darts. Two of them caught Seth, one in the thigh, one in his chest, and he screamed and opened fire. His aim was bad, but he quickly readjusted and kept on firing. Nova joined him, both of them moving quickly. Several more darts whirred past them, barely missing them and sometimes grazing their armor or tearing at their skin. Seth cursed and kept up the rate of fire until his pistol was temporarily exhausted. He dropped it, brought his blaster rifle to bear, grimacing and fighting against the pain, because those darts _hurt_ , and opened fire again. Blaster bolts washed across the Mandalorian's position.

Some connected and he stumbled back a few paces. Seth kept up the fire, hosing his area down, and Nova joined him, though he saw that her shots were not very accurate. He glanced at her. Her right arm had blood streaked down it, and it hung at her side. Oh shit. She was firing her pistol with her left hand, grimacing furiously, her teeth bared. As he returned his attention to the Mandalorian, one of the darts connected with his blaster and threw it from his grasp.

"Damn!" he yelled, and made a snap decision.

He began sprinting towards the big bastard. He wasn't sure what he was going to do once he actually got there, only that it felt right in the moment.

And sometimes, your gut was wrong.

Seth thought he might surprise the enemy, but the Mandalorian seemed prepared for this particular scenario, evidenced by the fact that as Seth tried to launch his attack, the Mandalorian grabbed him and flung him right over himself. Damn! He was _strong_. Seth yelled as he flew through the air and slammed bodily into a nearby tree.

Something cracked inside of him.

Falling to the ground, he flipped over, struggling to get the air back in his lungs, and he saw the watery, uncertain figure coming his way.

Suddenly, an overcharged burst nailed the son of a bitch right in the back. The Mandalorian stumbled forward and for a few seconds, his stealth shielding failed. Seth grabbed his knife and surged to his feet as the Mandalorian turned around and returned fire. He lurched forward, brought the knife up, and then drove it into the huge bastard's back.

The Mandalorian let out a grunting kind of bark of pain.

 _That_ was satisfying. It was even worth it, Seth felt, as the man whirled around and punched him solidly in the face, sending him crashing back to the ground again. Expecting a more damaging blow, or more of those darts, Seth instead heard blaster fire, followed by another enraged bark of pain. He looked up and saw Nova firing on the Mandalorian's position still. And apparently she hit something sensitive, because suddenly he turned and ran into the trees. Nova took a few steps after him, then slowed to a halt and looked at Seth.

"Are you okay?" she asked, glancing back towards where their assailant had disappeared. Seth couldn't even hear him anymore.

"Think I fractured something," he grunted. "Your arm?"

"It's busted," she replied.

"Shit." Seth slowly hauled himself to his feet, wheezing. One of his ribs might be broken. It sure hurt enough.

"What do we do?" she asked.

"We go home and heal up. We completed our objective and did some damage," Seth replied, he saw his blaster in the mud and hobbled over to it, knelt, retrieved it, then began looking around for his pistol.

"Okay," Nova said after a moment, sounding a little defeated.

He found his pistol, and then they took a moment to tear the darts out of themselves and perform the most basic medical care before heading back to the outpost.

* * *

"Seth! Nova!" Seri cried.

Seth fell on his face as he finally made it back to the outpost. He had a lot of endurance, a high pain tolerance, and an intense hatred of appearing weak, especially in front of other people, especially people that he respected, _especially_ someone he was sleeping with, but that walk through the jungle had really pushed him hard.

"Where's. Maya?" he asked slowly, struggling not to pass out.

"Seth, shit," Nova said, crouching by him.

"We need her," he growled, fighting to get back up.

"Yex! Jensen! Help me!" he heard Seri yell.

A moment later, he heard footfalls, then hands were on him, helping him. He barked in pain as they bumped his chest. "Fractured rib," he grunted as Jensen and Kato got him to his feet. They each took an arm and helped him begin hobbling to the ship.

Yex helped Nova while Seri ran ahead to prepare for their arrival in the infirmary.

"What happened out there?" Jensen asked.

"Did you do it?" Kato asked.

"The jammer has been destroyed, I'm pretty damned sure. And we bombed his damned home base. He was living in a cave. Then he showed up. I stabbed him in the back and Nova managed to get some good shots in on him," Seth replied.

"Nice!" Jensen said.

"Yeah." Seth grunted as they reached the back ramp and started making their way up it. "Damn, this hurts."

"You're in pretty bad shape," Kato muttered.

"I know. We need to talk about what we're going to do, but first, Kato, go get Maya, she should be in her quarters. Wake her up if you have to, tell her it's an emergency, get her to the infirmary, okay?"

"Okay," she said, and cautiously left him with Jensen, then hurried off to find Maya.

They got him and Nova into the infirmary and laid them out on the examination tables. _Freaking deja vu,_ Seth thought unhappily. Seri finished preparing the emergency medical supplies and Seth began taking off some of his armor, barking in pain as he did.

"Here, let me do it," Jensen muttered. "You don't need to be moving."

"Fine," Seth replied, trying not to get angry. He was just trying to help, and he had a point, it wasn't a damned insult.

He really sympathized with Nova in that regard.

By the time he managed to get his upper armor off with Jensen's help, Maya groggily stumbled into the infirmary.

"Oh by the Force," she muttered, looking at them, rubbing her eyes.

"Maya. I'm sorry, but I need your help," Seth said, extremely unhappy that he was going to have to ask what he was about to ask.

"Seth...I'm barely conscious and coherent as it is right now-" Maya began.

"Maya," he said, and something in his voice made her stand up a little straighter, "I'm sorry. I really am. But we _need_ to get to a minimum standard. I don't have time for my rib to heal naturally, same with Nova's arm. We _need_ you to use the Force to heal at least those. I know what I'm asking, and I'm sorry, I genuinely _hate_ to ask this, but we need it. He's out there, and he's pissed now, he's going to be coming for us sometime in the future, probably soon, and you won't be ready in time for a battle, but you can make _us_ ready for a battle. It's two of us being semi-ready versus three of us not being in any shape to fight."

She was silent for a few seconds, probably running it all through her head for herself, and everyone was staring at her. Finally, she nodded. "Okay," she said, coming over to him and laying her hands gently on his chest.

"I'm sorry, Maya, I-"

"I know, Seth," she interrupted quietly. "I believe you, and I agree with you. This isn't your fault. I know you did the best you could, and we just got dealt a bad hand through no fault of your own. But I must warn you, I will be unconscious, as in, I will pass out, right here in the infirmary, and remain so for probably a good twelve hours. I will _not_ be able to help you or defend myself at all. So you must take that into account."

"I understand. We will protect you," he said.

"Thank you, Seth. That does mean a lot," she murmured. "Now be quiet, I need to focus."

She laid on the pressure a little more and he winced, then he felt a warmth begin to emanate from her hands. It seeped into his chest, and he grunted as he felt his fractured, or possibly broken, rib shift. A sharp pain hit him.

"Dammit!" he snapped and clenched his hands into fists. Gritting his teeth, groaning sickly in pain, he felt his rib mending hastily with the use of the Force.

It only lasted twenty seconds, but it felt like a lot longer.

When it was finished, the pain was gone, like it had never been there to begin with. He took a deep, experimental breath, then released it slowly.

"You did it," he said.

She nodded, turned, and staggered over to Nova.

"Jensen, Kato, be ready to catch her," Seth warned.

They both closed in around her, attentively watching her. She laid her hands over Nova's wounded shoulder.

"Thank you, Maya," Nova whispered.

"Yes," was all Maya said, and she trembled with effort and concentration. Seth grimaced as he propped himself up and watched, pained in more ways than one, as Maya fixed Nova up. She kept going until she literally passed out, letting out something like a sigh of relief and just going slack. Jensen and Kato caught her immediately. They got her over to the unoccupied examination bed and laid her out on it.

"Watch her, run a scan," Seth said, slowly laying back down.

Seri was already getting to work on Nova.

"How's your arm?" Seth asked.

"Still a little sore, but I can fight like this," Nova replied.

"I hate this," Seri whispered.

"Don't we all?" Seth muttered.

He settled in to wait to be put back together again, and hoped that the fight that was inevitably coming towards him would wait long enough for him to get back on his feet, and that Maya was going to be okay.


	38. Chapter 38: Confrontation

It was difficult to get a status report and dole out orders when you were being put back together by a medic, but Seth had done it before.

"How are the Republic soldiers?" he asked. Seri had just moved over to him and was cleaning his wounds.

"They're fine, for the most part. The Private is stable, in the outpost's infirmary," Jensen replied.

"I helped PFC Mills work on him," Seri said.

"Excellent. The rest?"

"Mills and Baxton have been brought up to speed and are currently helping with work around the outpost. Inventory, mostly," Jensen replied.

"All right. We're shifting priorities. We now have no reason to leave this outpost, because there's no one left alive out there but that bastard, and we've destroyed his jammer. He knows that. So that means he's going to come to us, since he almost certainly can't draw us out. So our priority is now locking this place down and making it as safe as possible. I'm hoping that someone has already called for help?" he asked.

"I did," Jensen said, nodding. "I've gotten in touch with the nearest Republic forces. It's a cruiser and they're going to come help. Unfortunately, they're about a day out."

"What the fu...why isn't Onderon coming to help?" Nova asked.

"They...basically told me to go screw myself," Jensen replied.

Seth sighed. "Great. Okay, so we have to hold out for a day. Every window, every door that isn't absolutely necessary, shut it, lock it. Put up whatever security defenses you can think of. Kato, are the ship's sensors any use now?"

"No. I've been trying them and I _did_ notice when you took down the jammer. It helped, but there's just too much life and weather interference on this planet for the ship's sensors," she replied.

"Great." He winced as Seri sealed one of his wounds with a bandage, then got started on the next one. "You're using kolto?" he asked.

"Yes, Seth. I'm kind of burning through our reserves," she murmured.

"I know. I'm sorry. We'll have to get more from the Republic ship."

"If we last that long," Jensen muttered.

"We'll last. He isn't invincible. He's tough, and crafty, but we can kill him. He's going to come, and it might be soon, but I'm not sure. He might try to wait us out, or we might have damaged him more than I thought. Either way, we're going to need to be on high alert. We're going to sleep in shifts tonight, someone always awake to watch the outpost and the ship, separately. We have to remember that Maya is down for the count for now. Yex, I don't suppose we've made any kind of significant progress with the outpost's scanners?"

" _Unfortunately not, I am still doing the best I can with Kato's capable assistance,_ " he replied.

"That's fine. Get back to it." He nodded to the door. "And update the others on the situation."

"On it," Jensen said. The three of them turned and left.

Seth sighed and looked at Maya. "Is she okay? You should check on her."

"The scan isn't finished yet," Seri murmured. "I'll check on her, but I want to finish with you first. You're actively bleeding."

"I'm sorry we keep doing this to you. That I keep doing this to you," he said.

"It's okay. It isn't your fault, it's like Maya said: it's just the way the situation fell."

"Yeah..." He glanced at Nova. "Are you okay?"

"I'll be fine. Seri fixed me up good," Nova replied.

"Yeah, I also gave her some painkillers," Seri said.

Nova laughed. "They do help, quite a bit...I need a nap. Is that going to be a problem?"

"No," Seth replied. "Sleep for now. You need to rest and recover for as long as you can, you're one of our best fighters, so I'm going to need you as capable as possible for when the bastard shows back up again."

She nodded. "We'll get him this time."

"We will," Seth agreed.

She rolled over and pulled a blanket up over her, her movements slow and careful.

"I don't think you can keep going on like this," Seri said after a moment. She sealed another one of his latest wounds.

"I know," he replied softly. "I...we don't have any choice, right now."

"I suppose. How many more stops do we have after this?" she asked. "How much longer is this to go on for?"

"As far as I know, Maya said there's only one more place left on the list, but that might change. I guess we'll find out," Seth said.

"This is getting more than just dangerous. You all keep pushing yourself so hard, you and Nova especially. _You_ especially. This isn't reasonable or safe."

"Life isn't, often."

She sighed softly. "I know."

He laid there in silence as she finished up her work. Once she was done, she gave him some painkillers and he watched as she moved over to Maya.

"Her scan is finished," Seri said, studying a screen built into the examination bed. "She's fine, Seth. Just exhausted. She just needs rest. I'll monitor her, but she's a Jedi, her body protects itself more than most people through the Force, from what I understand. Now, go to sleep. Let the kolto work and heal you up."

"Okay...thank you, Seri."

"You're welcome, Seth."

She dimmed the lights and left the three of them in the infirmary. After a moment, Seth slowly got up, wincing as he did. He hobbled across the infirmary to Nova's bed, then laid a hand on her arm and gently rubbed it. "Can I join you?"

"Of course," she said, and scooted over.

There was just barely enough room for the two of them, but it was better than sleeping across the room. He settled against her back, holding her closely and carefully against him, and fell asleep almost immediately.

* * *

Despite how fast he dozed off, Seth only slept for about an hour.

When he woke up, he checked the time, then laid around for maybe another five minutes before realizing that he wasn't getting back to sleep. Which was fine, he guessed. There was work to be done and the painkillers were still in effect. Though he had to remember not to move around too much. Carefully, he rose to his feet, glad that he managed not to disturb Nova, who was clearly just out. Then he checked on Maya again, and she was even more out. She looked peaceful, though. He left them both sleeping and slipped out of the infirmary.

Seth took a moment to swing by his and Nova's quarters. He grabbed a fresh uniform and boxers and socks, then took a long, hot shower, washing away all the sweat and blood and dirt and grime that had gathered there since last he'd showered. It was slow, painful work, as a lot of him ached, and he seemed to be becoming a patchwork of bruises by now. Once he was finished, he dried off, (again, slow, painful work), and dressed, (deja vu, damned near everything was painful when you were _this_ battered and bruised), and headed out.

He hunted through the ship for someone on guard and found only Seri sitting in the main room. She looked annoyed.

"You should be sleeping," she said.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't. I'm going to go check on the others. Has anything happened?" he asked.

"No, not as far as I know...don't do too much, okay?"

"I won't," he promised, and headed out of the ship.

Twilight was coming by then, he saw as he stepped off the loading ramp. The sky was shading towards golden red and the rain had slackened to barely a drizzle. As he approached the outpost, he saw Jensen and one of the locals, Baxton, he realized, coming from around the side of the building. They met up near the front entrance.

"You supposed to be up?" Jensen asked.

"No, but I can't sleep. How's everything going?" Seth replied. They headed into the outpost itself.

"Good. We're pretty secure. I mean, relatively speaking," Jensen said. "Some of the windows are broken and we're covering them up as best we can, but all the doors save for this one here are locked down firmly. Of course, we have no idea what kind of tech he has, he could be able to just hack or cut anything. So we're all armed and ready."

"Yeah," Seth muttered. "This isn't a happy prospect."

"No, but what is lately?" Baxton muttered.

"How are you holding up?"

"As good as can be expected, I guess. I'm relatively new, so I wasn't exactly very familiar with everyone, but still...it never seems to get any easier to see fellow soldiers die..."

"It doesn't," Seth confirmed.

"I just want to get out of this one alive," he muttered.

"Hopefully we will. I guess I'm going to give you a hand with the fortifications."

"Perfect," Jensen replied.

Seth followed them and settled in to his work.

* * *

An hour went by, and then two hours went by.

Seth checked the perimeter defenses and did what he could. Jensen and Baxton were right: they were about as good as they were going to get. Then he helped with inventory, hunting for anything that might be useful against the Mandalorian. Realistically though, they had as much as they were going to get. It was going to come down to luck and skill, but mostly luck. He caught a meal and went to check on Nova and Maya again. Both were still out, still in good condition, and then he wrapped up a few loose ends as the sun set.

Mainly he set a guard schedule, so that a minimum of two people would be awake, one in the outpost, one on the ship, at all times. Mostly though, he watched the jungle around them, and waited. Time passed, the sun disappeared, draining from the sky, replaced by gloomy darkness, and the rain picked up.

After awhile, Nova came out and greeted him. Her own ability to sleep had run out. They sat in the ingress of the outpost for awhile, talking, but mostly just keeping each other company, and they helped whenever they could.

Finally, Seth began to feel the effects of lethargy once again, which was lucky, because his allotted shift of being awake was about over.

"You look like crap, babe. You should sleep," Nova said, nudging him.

"Yeah, I guess so..."

"Also, go find Kato. She wanted to talk to you. I think she's staked out in one of the living quarters in the outpost for the moment," Nova said.

"What'd she want to talk about?" he asked.

"I don't know," Nova replied with a shrug, but she had a smile on her face that said otherwise.

"Okay. Goodnight, Nova."

"Goodnight, Seth."

He left her to guard the outpost, then headed for the dorms section. He wandered around until he found Kato's room and knocked on the door.

"Who is it?" she asked.

"Seth."

"Come in."

He opened the door and stepped inside, closing it behind him. She was laying on the bed beneath the blankets, just a single lamp on the bedside table lit, a datapad in hand.

"Nova said you wanted to talk to me."

"Yes. I'm bad at subtlety, so I thought I'd ask you directly: are you interested in sex with me?" she asked, staring at him calmly.

"Oh. Uh, yes. Yes, definitely," he replied.

"Good. I'm interested in you." She set the datapad aside and pulled the blankets back. She was naked beneath them. "Let's use the time we have wisely."

"Good idea," Seth replied.

* * *

Seth opened his eyes.

Something was wrong.

He was stiff and sore, but he felt Kato pressed against him, and she was soft and warm and very pleasant. It was hard to tell, but he thought a few hours had passed since they had made love and gone to sleep. It still wasn't morning, he could tell that much just from the lack of sunlight. He laid in the bed and waited, listening closely.

Something had woken him up, something bad, but…

He sat up suddenly. No white noise, no hum of power. Shit, the power was dead. Could just be a glitch, but it might not be.

"Kato," he said as he pulled the blankets back.

"What?" she asked, coming awake immediately. "What's wrong?"

"Power's dead, I think something's happening."

"Damn," she muttered, and got up with him.

They both hastily pulled their uniforms and armor back on, grabbed their gear, then quickly left the room. Seth began making his way down the hallway, towards the infirmary. He was almost sure at least someone would be there. Who was supposed to be up? He was trying to think through a haze of grogginess but it was hard.

He reached the infirmary and knocked on the door.

"Who is it!?" Seri hissed.

"It's Seth and Kato," he replied.

The door opened and she let them in. She had a flashlight on. He looked around and saw that the only other person in the room was the wounded Private. "Have you seen anyone else?" he asked.

"Yes. Nova and Yex were just here. They told me to stay put, they were going to go fix the power," she replied. "What's going on?"

"I don't know. Stay here," Seth replied.

They all whirled around, weapons raised, as someone appeared in the doorway. Seth let out his breath slowly as he saw it was the local medic, PFC Mills.

"What's going on?" she asked, echoing Seri.

"Power's dead, don't know why, stay here," Seth replied.

She nodded and he and Kato headed back out of the infirmary, closing the door firmly behind them. They quickly made their way towards the main entrance.

"You think it's him?" Kato asked quietly.

"It's really hard to say, it could be him, could just be bad weather or something else. But the only reason we had power was because we had the ship hooked up to the outpost."

Seth felt his anxiety ramping back up as they headed back outside. It was raining again and very dark out. He was just barely able to see the vague shape of the ship up ahead, and didn't want to turn on his flashlight. Then again, maybe he should. He was almost positive that if the Mandalorian was around, he could see him, and didn't need light. In that case, he might as well just use the damned flashlight, given that _he_ needed to see.

"Turning on my light," he said.

"Check," Kato replied. "I'll do the same."

He activated the flashlight mounted on the end of his blaster rifle barrel and swept it across the area. Just a lot of wet foliage out there, swaying in the wind, making it look like _everything_ was moving, and…

"Oh no," Seth whispered.

"What?" Kato asked.

His light came to rest on an unmoving form between the outpost and the ship. It was wearing a Republic uniform. Seth jogged over and Kato joined him. He crouched, hoping against hope that whoever it was wasn't dead. It was either Jensen or Baxton and-

Seth activated his radio. It was Corporal Baxton.

He was dead.

"He's here! Everyone, he's here!"

The area became flooded with light as the ship's exterior lights snapped onto their maximum brightness. Seth cried out, squinting, trying desperately to see. And as his vision cleared, he realized that he was staring right at the Mandalorian. He could see his outline in the light and the rain. He was maybe ten feet away.

"I see him!" he screamed and opened fire.

A dart shot through the air and again knocked his blaster rifle straight from his grasp. He shouted in frustration and snagged his pistol, dodge-rolling to the side as Kato opened fire. He came up into a kneeling stance and opened fire, aiming as best he could under the circumstances. Blaster fire lit up the area, and so did the muted flashes of return fire as the Mandalorian shot those metal darts at them. He heard Kato shout in pain as one of them connected. Cursing, he focused, charged up a shot, and fired it off right at the bastard.

It was a direct hit.

The Mandalorian's stealth field suddenly shorted out, and this time, it didn't come back. In the harsh glare of the ship's lights, Seth finally got his first real look at the big son of a bitch. He was covered head to toe in scratched, heavily worn and used gray armor. Classic Mandalorian armor. So he was right. He'd been pretty sure, but he hadn't been _certain_ that they were facing one. Now he knew. Unless someone had, for some reason, gotten their hands on some Mandalorian gear and was wearing it.

Did it matter? It was time for this guy to die.

He snapped off a curse and raised his wrist, then fired another pair of darts from the launcher mounted there. One barely missed Seth, the other crashed into the pistol and sent it flying. Seth shot to his feet. Time to end this. He'd since found another knife. He grabbed it and began charging for the Mandalorian.

"Come on, you big bastard!" he screamed.

He waited for Seth to come to him, and Seth almost imagined he could see a big, smug grin on the face behind that featureless gray visor. And the Mandalorian tried to do the same grab.

Seth dodged and stabbed him in the gut.

The knife was extremely sharp and strong, designed to penetrate armor, and as such, it drove through it. Not all the way to the hilt, but enough that the blade punched into the Mandalorian's stomach. There was a satisfying shout of pain, and then one big, solid, armored first connected with his right eye hard enough that he almost blacked out. His vision swam as he stumbled back several steps and then fell flat on his ass. Stars washed across his vision and the world tilted madly. Pain crackled through his cranium and he expected a second, more lethal blow to follow shortly thereafter. Only it didn't.

Two more streams of blaster fire joined the fray. Seth struck out with his foot blindly, going off pure instinct, and connected with the bastard's leg. He heard him stumble and growl in frustration. Seth rolled away as he heard a dart narrowly miss him, probably embedding itself in the ground where he had just been. He could barely see with how bright it was and how hard the Mandalorian had hit him. He got shakily to his feet, groping for the second blade he'd tucked away on his armor. The Mandalorian was dodging, firing more darts. How many did he have?! Nova and Jensen had thrown themselves into the fight.

They might actually have a chance of ending this here and now.

Seth saw several of the bolts connect, washing across the Mandalorian's armor, and drew his blade. He readied himself for another attack.

Then the Mandalorian threw something into the middle of the clearing.

Seth recognized it at the last second.

" _Flash-bang!_ " he screamed while turning away, squeezing his eyes shut, and clapping his hands over his ears.

He still saw the flash and heard the bang.

Then an explosion of pain took him in the back as he felt a dart punch in through his armor. Fighting to stay focused, he whirled around, slashing wildly, but the Mandalorian wasn't coming for him. He had just tagged him in passing.

He was going for Nova.

Seth screamed and ran after him, barreling towards him while the monster in gray armor ran towards Nova. Jensen fired more shots at him, getting closer, trying to stop him. The Mandalorian fired two darts into his torso. Kato threw herself at him and the Mandalorian punched her in the gut, sending her stumbling several feet back, gasping in agony. Nova was firing, backing up, but he was on her in seconds, and he swept her up with a hand around her neck. He lifted her easily a foot off the ground and began strangling her.

Seth leaped onto the Mandalorian's back and brought the blade around, plunging it directly into the monster's neck.

That did it.

He dropped Nova and snapped his body forward while ducking down, expertly forcing Seth bodily up over him and slamming him onto the ground. Seth wound up on his back, staring up at the gray armored figure, and saw the blade sticking out of his neck. Blood poured from the wound, but still the Mandalorian wouldn't go down.

How was he still standing?!

He brought one huge boot up and tried to drive it down onto Seth's head in a last ditch attempt to crush his skull. He barely managed to twist out of the way and the boot drove hard into the mud. An overcharged shot flew out of nowhere and nailed him directly in the helmet. The Mandalorian stumbled a few steps, went down, began to stagger to his feet, aiming his wrist launcher, and then finally went slack, collapsing to the ground.

"Make sure...he's dead..." Seth panted, and began to crawl to Nova, who was on the ground, coughing raggedly. "Are you okay?"

"Yes," she groaned. "I'll be fine...oh man, your face...your eye is bleeding, and your cheek, and your forehead..."

"I'll be fine," Seth replied. He was having trouble seeing and kept blinking. He looked around, trying to find where that shot had come from, and saw Yex coming down the ramp, holding a blaster pistol. He heard someone let out a shout of effort and turned just in time to see Kato standing over the Mandalorian with her sword, bringing it down on his neck and chopping his head off. Well, that was certainly a way to make it happen.

" _Seth, you are bleeding a great deal,_ " he heard Yex say as he approached.

"I'll be fine," he repeated, but he was getting dizzy and weak. He blinked several times, shook his head. "I just need, uh..." He tried to stand up, looking at Nova. "I just need...I just-"

He passed out.


	39. Chapter 39: Post Traumatic

Seth gradually became aware of the soft hum of power, and the quiet respiration of filtered oxygen being pumped into his environment.

He also became aware of an actual person's respiration as well, nearby.

And pain. There was a lot of pain. Something on his face, too. Over his eye.

He opened his eyes.

Definitely something over his eye, his left eye, completely covering it.

"What happened?" he asked. Everything hurt, but his head _really_ hurt. His face, mainly, but he had a killer headache.

He heard footsteps, and Nova suddenly appeared in his field of vision. He was aware enough that he knew he was in the onboard infirmary, laying on his back. He frowned as he saw bruising on her neck, like someone had grabbed her there-

The Mandalorian.

Everything snapped harshly into focus.

"We're safe," she said, probably reading the anxiety on his face. "Don't worry. He's dead. For sure. And he was alone. And you're going to be disappointed."

"Why?" he asked hesitantly.

"He had a datapad on him. A journal. He was indeed a Mandalorian. Some crazy ass bastard who had become obsessed with just...hunting. Everything. If his log is to be believed, he's got a long list of confirmed kills, in other places. All after the Mandalorian Wars. But get this, one of his confirmed kills here is the damned terentatek."

"You're _sure?_ " he asked.

"Yes. He had a map, the thing was barely a klik away, in a cave. Kato and Maya and I went out to find it about two hours ago. It's dead in its cave. Confirmed."

"Oh man, I'm _so_ disappointed that I don't _also_ have to fight a damned terentatek," Seth muttered, relaxing.

"Jensen is actually pretty annoyed. He got screwed out of two of them now."

"Well, he can get the next one," Seth replied.

"He can't," Nova said.

Now he stiffened up again. "What? Why not?"

"Relax. The Republic ship got here and new orders came down after we explained the situation to them. They're short staffed, so they can barely afford to dispatch a skeleton crew as it is. So they're ordering Kato and Jensen to stay. They tried to order _you_ to stay, but Maya put a stop to that very quickly."

"Crap," he muttered.

"Yeah." She smirked. "You got in good with Kato, didn't you?"

"Yes," he replied.

"Well, at least you got to enjoy her company once."

He sighed and nodded. "How is everyone?"

"Yex and Seri are unhurt. Maya is passed out again. She used the Force to stabilize us, and Seri did her best to deal with the rest. We're lucky that it's going to take four days to get to our next destination, which I believe is our final one. I'm hoping we'll be able to heal up and actually _sleep_ for that duration. Jensen made it away pretty unscathed, but Kato took a few bad injuries. She'll be laid up for a little bit in the infirmary. Baxton is...dead. Unfortunately. But Mills and Thompson are okay. Honestly you and I got it the worst. Especially you. I had to convince Seri not to tie you to your bed to keep you from getting up when you woke up..."

"How long have I been down?" he asked.

"Close to ten hours. Maya says your eye will need more Force healing when she's had the opportunity to recharge a little. It's pretty messed up. So is your face. He like...beat the shit out of you. You look like you were on the end of a really bad ass-kicking."

"I was," he muttered. "But we won. That's what matters."

"I guess so." She sighed. "This is getting really dangerous."

"Having second thoughts?"

"No," she replied immediately. "I'm not. I'm just...worried. That one of us is going to end up dead. I mean, this is worth doing. And I'm not saying that because of the credits. These things are evil, and we've helped people, and we got to kill this Mandalorian monster." She groaned and rubbed her eyes. "I'm looking forward to this time off, at least."

"Same," he groaned in response. "I'm freaking dying. I'm in a lot of pain right now."

Nova looked back down at him, a smile spreading slowly across her face. "You know what helps deal with pain?"

"What?" he asked.

She rolled her eyes and began to take her shirt off. "Don't play like you don't know."

* * *

Two hours later, after some fun if careful lovemaking with Nova and a mercifully dreamless nap, Seth finally dragged himself up out of bed. He knew he needed to just stay down, just crawl into a bed and not leave as much as possible for the next four days, not only did he acknowledge that, he welcomed it, because he was beyond exhausted, and a lot hurt. But before he could safely do that, he needed to say goodbye to Jensen and Kato.

He slowly, painfully pulled on his clothes and left Nova sleeping in the infirmary. He managed to make it as far as the central hold before bumping into Seri. She was sitting there, and the look on her face told him she probably had been expecting this.

"No, Seth," she said, immediately standing up and pointing back the way he'd come. "You. Back in the infirmary. Right now."

"Seri," he said, holding up his hands as if to ward her off, "I know. I'm not here to argue. But we're probably going to leave while I'm blacked out, and I can't leave without saying goodbye to Kato and Jensen."

She frowned, studying him closely, then sighed softly. "Fine. You stay here. I will have them come here to you."

"Thank you," he said, deeply relieved that he wouldn't have to leave the ship. Because he seriously felt like crap right now. "Have them come separately, if you could."

"I'll get Jensen first," she replied, walking ahead, to the cockpit, probably to hunt him down over the radio. Seth gratefully sat down on the couch and propped his feet up on the table. He settled in and glanced at the kitchen area. His stomach growled. When was the last time he'd eaten? Had he actually eaten a meal since touching down on Dxun? He _had_ to have...right? Damn, maybe not. Already he began to put together a plan for after he was done talking with the others. He was going to make himself a gigantic meal of whatever he wanted, eat it all, then go take a long, _long_ hot shower. Preferably with Nova.

And then he was going to crawl into bed, and he wasn't going to leave it except to go to the bathroom for the next four days.

He was still thinking this when he drifted off, and the next thing he knew, someone was gently shaking his boot. Seth jerked back awake and saw Jensen seated across from him with a little smile on his face.

"Sorry," he said.

"No, no...uh, sorry for being asleep when I'm the one who called you," Seth muttered as he rubbed his eyes.

"It's really fine. You took a bad beating, and you must be half-dead...I'm guessing you heard?"

"Yeah. I'm sorry."

"Me too. Dammit. I was really looking forward to sticking around. All of you are really great to work with, and to just hang out with. But what can you do? I have to admit, this place is at least interesting. Though it's gonna be a real challenge to get the outpost up and running again. They only gave us two techs, two medics, and three soldiers. I'm in charge, because I'm a Sergeant." He sighed and ran his hands through his hair. "It's going to be a mess."

"At least you have Kato around," he said.

"Yeah, that's true. She's familiar, at least. Plus, Mills has been hitting on me, surprisingly. She's kind of like Kato, that same sort of grim demeanor. Although she doesn't remind me of my sister, and she's pretty hot."

"Yeah," Seth agreed, thinking of her. He'd actually been hoping to ask her to bed, too.

Jensen laughed. "All this fraternizing going on...the Republic would come down on us hard if they weren't so desperate." He sighed. "I gotta admit, it'll be nice to have...simpler problems. Straightforward problems. I feel like I could get lost in my work on Dxun. Not like back on Hoth, where the war was right there." He was looking around the main hold, but now he centered his sights back on Seth. "I wanted to thank you again. You saved my damned life. More than once, but you dragged my ass out of the fire when you didn't have to. If and when this war ends in our favor, and you want to share a beer or hit the streets or whatever, find me, I will absolutely be there." He leaned forward and offered his hand.

Seth grinned and sat up slowly, fighting the urge to groan. He reached over the table, took it, gripped it firmly, shook it. "You're on."

Jensen grinned broadly back. "Good." He let go, then slowly stood up and popped his neck. "Was there anything else?"

"Did you get everything of yours off the ship?"

"Yeah. Kato and I came through and grabbed our gear."

"Okay, then. I'll be in touch...at some point. Provided I survive whatever nightmare we stumble into next."

"Good luck," he said. "And goodbye...for now."

"Same to you, Jensen," Seth replied.

He left, and not too much later, Kato walked into the room. She sat down next to him. "I'd sit on your lap, but I'm afraid of hurting you," she said.

"It would be appreciated, but this is appreciated more, because you would," Seth replied.

"I'm glad you're okay. I came to see you a few times, but you were passed out and you and Nova seemed...it seemed private," she replied. "You and her have a very close relationship, don't you?"

"I...I'm not sure," he admitted.

"Why not?"

"It's complicated. We both have...complicated histories, and complicated lives. Don't get me wrong, I care about her. A lot. I'd do a lot for her. I respect her and I like her and I'm so glad to be with her. But I think we're both bad at relationships, and she has...trust issues."

"I get that, but you two seem to be doing pretty well, based on what I've seen."

"I know. I feel the same way, but...I mean, that's _now._ I'm not so sure the relationship would survive being, like, a normal relationship."

Kato looked at him for a moment, her lips pursed, then she just nodded. "Ultimately, it's _your_ relationship. I'm not trying to make you do anything. I just...like you. And Nova. And I want the two of you to be happy. And you seem to make each other happy."

"I appreciate it."

"I'm glad." She paused. "How are you doing? You look awful."

He laughed. "Thanks. I'm...in a lot of pain. And I'm dead tired. How about you?"

"I'm sore, and some places are still really sensitive, but I'm mostly okay...so, I wanted to say, while I still had a chance: you were good in bed, I had a great time, and I'm sad that we didn't get more of an opportunity to sleep together and spend time together." She paused. "Sorry if that's weird, I'm bad with being social, and I've found that I work best when directly communicating how I feel."

"No, it's fine. I honestly prefer this to a guessing game. I actually feel exactly the same way."

She smiled. "Good. That's good to hear. Is there anything else?"

"I guess not."

"I'm sorry to have to leave so soon, but there is a _lot_ of work to be done."

"It's okay. I understand. I hope we'll run into each other again."

"I would welcome it." Kato leaned forward and gave him a nice, firm kiss on the mouth, then told him goodbye, stood up, and walked out.

Well, that had been very nice at least.

Seth looked back to the kitchen area. He realized, at once, that he was almost desperately craving green tea with a little bit of honey in it.

He stood up and began hobbling over.

* * *

Seth opened his eyes and stared into almost perfect darkness.

There was an extremely low level of ambient light in his and Nova's shared bedroom, just enough to see by when he had to get up and take a leak. He yawned and shifted, wondering how long he'd been asleep for this time.

He'd been having a nightmare.

 _The_ nightmare, again.

The one that haunted him to this very day. The one that had the capacity to reduce him to tears. To rip his stomach to shreds. To transport him back to a sniveling twelve year old boy. The nightmare was lost amid a sea of other dreams, some good, some bad, but he knew that he'd been having it not too long ago. It didn't hold as much power this time, because he hadn't woken up in an absolute panic, but it was still there.

A little like malignant red eyes, watching silently from the darkness…

Seth swallowed and reached over for Nova. But her side of the bed was empty. He felt a tremor of fear shiver through him and suddenly it was like there was someone, or something, in the room with him. He cursed softly, hating this fear, this anxiety that seemed to drop out the pit of his stomach and make his skin grow cold and his heart pulse faster. He reached up, groping for the switch, and then turned the lights onto their dimmest setting. He squinted as the darkness was banished and sat up. Looking around the room, he confirmed that he was indeed alone. Obviously he was alone, why did he need to confirm it, dammit?

This was pathetic. He was a damned soldier, a twelve-year vet. He'd faced down men intent on his murder on dozens of worlds, fought literal monsters, a damned terentatek at this point. But a little nightmare still had such power over him.

Only he knew it wasn't little. It didn't _feel_ little.

It felt immense. It felt like a tidal wave swallowing the horizon, or an eclipse devouring the sun from the sky, bathing him in total darkness. Seth heaved a sigh. He was still tired, but he knew he wasn't going to be able to get back to sleep, at least not for a bit. He got slowly to his feet, groaning softly, and walked stiffly over to the bathroom. He flipped on the light and studied himself in the mirror.

 _Wow_ he looked awful.

Not as bad as he had before. In fact, he'd healed at a remarkable rate, but damn, he still looked freaking awful. Seth turned on the shower and took a moment to peel off the bandages and was glad to see that almost none of them had blood on them. Once the water was hot, he slipped in, and stood in the waterfall, and remembered.

It had been three days.

He had enjoyed his green tea, and then a huge meal, that had grown even bigger as the others drifted in one by one, until the whole crew was in the main hold, helping him cook. They'd spent two hours making and then consuming the meal. Maya looked exhausted, but basically okay. He still felt guilty about all he'd asked of her these past few days. After the meal, she had taken the opportunity to heal up his eye, and then he and Nova had gone and taken a very long, very happy shower. Then they'd made love and fallen asleep for fourteen hours.

That had largely been what had happened between then and now. Sleep. Shower. Sex. Food. And Seri checking in on him, cleaning his wounds and reapplying bandages. Well, she did that for both him and Nova.

He felt a lot better now. Most of the pain had faded. The times he did spend awake when he wasn't doing anything else, he meditated. And he could feel something building inside of him. Something that needed to come out.

Something that needed to be faced, and had been for decades now.

Seth finished washing himself off, watching blood swirl away into the drain. He finished up and then carefully dried off. When that was done, he grabbed the medical kit he kept in the bathroom and tended to the few wounds that were still open or raw. He pressed new bandages onto them once they were clean, then popped a few painkillers, and walked back into the bedroom. After gathering up some fresh clothes and dressing, he headed out.

He wanted some more green tea.

It was weirdly soothing.

He heard voices talking softly and followed them to the main hold, where he saw Nova and Seri sitting beside each other on one couch, across from Maya. They all looked tired, but happy. And they all looked at him when he came in.

"Hello, Seth," Maya said.

"Hi...uh...what's up?" he asked, rubbing one eye as he headed for the kitchen.

"Just sharing stories," she replied.

"I'm sorry I got up," Nova said. "I couldn't sleep."

"It's fine. Not a problem," he replied.

"I just know that you like it more when you wake up next to me," she said.

"Who wouldn't?" he replied, and she laughed softly.

"Are you doing okay, Seth?" Seri asked.

"Yeah. I had a shower and tended to my wounds. Almost none of them are bleeding anymore in my sleep," he said, pouring himself some green tea. He turned to face them, and Seri and Nova each shifted a little away from each other, and Nova patted the space between them.

"Sit," she said.

"Okay," he replied. He walked over and settled in between them, and for a moment, he had to appreciate the profoundly comforting effect it had on him. It struck him intensely, not just the feeling, but that he could even feel such a deep feeling from doing something as simple as sitting between two of his friends.

He really _had_ forgotten what being social was like, how deeply comforting it could be to have a friend, a real friend.

For a moment, none of them spoke.

"You look...pensive," Maya said.

He sighed. "I guess I am. Had nightmares again."

"I'm sorry, honey," Nova murmured, reaching out and running a hand up and down one arm.

"It's okay..." He glanced up as Yex walked into the room. "Yex, um...you got a minute?"

" _I do, indeed,_ " Yex replied in his deep and amicable voice. He sat down on one of the unoccupied couches, folded his hands, and looked intently at Seth.

"I've got something I need to say," he said, and before he knew it, he realized that oh crap, he was actually going to do this. His anxiety came back and kicked up a notch. He cleared his throat. "Fair warning: it's deeply personal, and really depressing, and it might make you uncomfortable." He looked slowly around at them all. "All of you have...you've all helped me. You've helped me a lot. In ways that I didn't even know I needed...in ways that I didn't even know I _could_ be helped any longer. Outside of this ship, with a few exceptions, I don't really have anyone in my life that I feel like I can really rely on, or turn to. For a long time, I've been...not okay with it, I guess, but I had largely been at peace with it."

He paused again, then drew a deep breath and let it out in a long sigh. "Last chance to get out before it gets heavy."

" _I will stay,_ " Yex replied.

"I'm not going anywhere, Seth," Nova said firmly, taking his hand and gripping it tightly.

"Neither am I," Seri said, doing the same with his other hand.

"Keep going, Seth. This is important. I...appreciate this," Maya replied.

"Okay. A lot of shit has happened to me, but there's one thing that left a huge, permanent scar on me. When I was twelve years old, I was out in this old factory at the edge of town with my best friend. We weren't supposed to be there, but...it wasn't the best environment to begin with. My parents were good people, but they worked their asses off, and I was frequently left alone. And I was always doing stupid crap. So we went into this place, and while we were exploring it, I kept getting the feeling that someone was watching us. And, well, I was right. I got hit with something that paralyzed me deeper into the factory, and..."

He sighed and looked down. "I don't really remember it too well, that part. I know that I was knocked out, and that my friend panicked and ran. When I came to, I was strapped down to this table in some room that was underground. For awhile I was just laying there. I tried to get out, but I was stuck good. Strapped down really tight. Finally, this guy shows up. He was...a Dark Jedi. He had glowing red eyes, pale as snow. He spent awhile muttering to himself, wandering around the room. And...I don't really want to relive the whole damned thing, but he kept me there and tortured me for about two days."

"Seth...I'm so sorry," Nova whispered.

"Yeah, me too," he muttered, then pressed on. "It was pretty awful. It felt like...the end of life. Then it felt worse than that. The only reason I managed to survive was because my friend eventually told his parents about what had happened, and they called my parents, who called local security, and they went out and raided the factory. They found me. I think I was really close to dying then. I was dehydrated, I'd lost a lot of blood, suffered a lot of damage. They happened to be working with a Jedi who was looking for the Dark Jedi. There was a fight, but the Dark Jedi got away. The only reason I survived was because the Jedi managed to stabilize me. And that..."

He hesitated, shuddered violently, and suddenly realized that he was dangerously close to crying. He didn't want to. He _really_ didn't want to. It felt like the ultimate admission of weakness, even if he didn't believe that. How hypocritical was that? Seth wouldn't ever give anyone crap about crying, but he couldn't tolerate doing it himself.

Even this simplistic description of the events was ripping into him in a way he didn't even think it could. He'd buried it for so long, pushed it down into the deep, dark depths of his psyche so long and so hard that he'd honestly forgotten how bad it was. A flood of memories began rushing through his mind's eye.

The sick bastard standing over him with a bloody scalpel.

The awful, rusty smell of the room.

The particular shape the water damage on the ceiling over his head made.

His voice, the way he was always muttering to himself, the slight accent that Seth had never been able to properly identify, even to this day.

A thousand tiny little details that were burned permanently into his brain.

"He, uh, he said he was doing it to, like-to find innocence. To find it, and see it corrupted. To chart-" He sniffed and wiped at his nose with the back of his hand, blinking rapidly, then cleared his throat. "Said he wanted to chart the process. And he-"

Seth lost control. He felt a sob rip through him, and he turned to Nova, who immediately opened her arms, and he laid against her, and hugged her tightly to him, and just...lost it. He felt sobs racking his body, tearing through him. He'd absolutely gone off the deep end and he knew he couldn't stop crying even if he genuinely tried, and that just made him cry harder. He felt Seri laying against his back, hugging him, too, and Nova had a hand on the back of his head, murmuring softly to him, and the fact that they were willing to do this, to put up with this, and that they actually _cared_ about him, that just made him cry harder, too.

He didn't know how long he sat there like that, but he sobbed until his ribs ached and his throat was sore and his head was thick and heavy.

But when he was done, he felt…

Better.

He felt drained, empty, but of pain and tumultuous emotions. He felt void of despair and terror and grief and fury.

He felt...good.

Seth let go of Nova, who smiled at him as soon as he sat back. She offered him a handful of tissues. "Thank you," he said, accepting them and taking a moment to blow his nose and clean off his face. He looked around at the others, who were looking at him with tremendous sympathy and concern, and in the void of negative emotions, he felt faintly ridiculous, and a little guilty. He stood up slowly. "Um...just a moment."

He walked over to the kitchen and washed his face, then came back and sat down. "Well...that was humiliating," he said after another moment, because he wasn't sure what to say now.

"It wasn't, Seth," Maya said.

"It's not like we're going to laugh at you, babe," Nova said.

"I know, I know, I just..."

"You're a six foot two, two eighty pound combat veteran who has spent the past decade cultivating a masculine, tough edge and you pride yourself on your stoicism in the face of screaming chaos," Maya said. "It's understandable. But this was the correct thing to do, Seth. Crying is nothing more than an emotional emergency release. A dump valve. There's nothing wrong with it."

"I know," he replied. "I don't have anything against it, I just hate doing it. It feels weak." He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I haven't told that to anyone for...so long. I tried talking about it in therapy through my teens, but...eventually I just buried it. So _that's_ why I have a problem with Jedi, why you make me nervous, Maya."

"I understand, and I'm sorry," she said.

"Yeah." He shook his head. "It really messed me up, obviously. I've been thinking about things, and you've been telling me stuff, working with me, trying to get me to actually deal with my problems. And it just felt...necessary, to tell someone."

"Do you feel better?" Maya asked.

"I do, actually. It's so cliché. People always talk about feeling like a weight has been lifted, but I honestly feel like that. Like, I've been wearing weighted clothes or something, or there's a bar of lead in my chest, and now it's all gone. Just...gone." He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Thank you for listening, for helping me with this, for...being here for me." He looked around as he said this.

" _You are my friend, Seth,_ " Yex replied. " _You are a good person. A brave person who stands for what is right. There are not enough people who do that. You deserve happiness. I am deeply sorry that this has happened to you. I believe a good first step in recovery is acknowledging, truly acknowledging, the fact that you cannot erase the past. You cannot hope to bury it. You cannot remove it. You can only make peace with it. If you let it, it will weigh you down. It will anchor you. I recognize that making peace may seem impossible, or even wrong. But I have never once in my entire life seen someone be both healthy and obsessively hold onto their own dark past. I believe that the two cannot coexist. You have taken an incredibly important step here, perhaps one of the most important you have ever in your entire life, and I applaud you for this, and I thank you for allowing me to be present for such a momentous and deeply personal event._ "

"You're a really good friend to me, Yex," Seth replied. "That means a lot." He looked at Maya, who was smiling cautiously at him.

"Yex is right," she said. "You did the right thing. This was...very, very brave, Seth."

"Yeah," he muttered. "That was harder than charging a bunker or crossing a battlefield. That was worse than facing the terentatek."

"But you did it. That's what matters."

He looked at Seri. "I wish I had better words," she said, taking his hand again. "I'm sorry you were hurt, and I hope you get better, and I'm here for you."

"Thank you, Seri. Those words are more than enough," he replied, and hugged her to him for a moment. "Really, it means so much."

He finally turned to Nova, who looked unhappy and stricken. "I'm so sorry, Seth," she said softly. "I don't even know what to say..."

Seth opened his arms, and she immediately leaned against him, hugging him tightly.

"This is enough, Nova."

"I _do_ trust you, Seth. I want you to know that. I trust you. With my life."

He hugged her more tightly. "Thank you for telling me that. I know how significant that is, how difficult that is for you. I trust you too, Nova."

They stayed like that for awhile longer, and then slowly released each other. Seth yawned, long and loud, and felt an intense wave of lethargy wash over him. "Wow, that really took it out of me," he murmured, rubbing one eye.

"Crying tends to do that," Nova replied.

"We should all get some sleep," Maya said. "We've got about another day before we get there. And we need to be in as good of condition as we can manage."

Seth nodded. "Yeah." He and Nova stood up. "Thanks again, for this...goodnight."

They told him goodnight, and he and Nova went back to their bedroom. They took off their clothes and climbed back into bed together. Seth reached up and killed the lights. He hugged Nova against himself in the darkness.

He thought that one of them would say something, but in the end, they said nothing as they drifted off to sleep. He supposed everything that needed to be said had been said, and sometimes, you didn't need words.

Just being there with each other was enough.


	40. Chapter 40: Cold Silence

"The scan looks good, but I want to do one more test," Seri said. "Sit up."

"Okay," Seth replied, and sat up. He swung his feet over the side of the examination bed and planted them on the floor.

Seri stepped up to him and held one finger up in front of him. "Follow my finger with your eyes, keep your head still."

He did as she instructed as she slowly moved her finger left, then right.

"Okay, now stare straight ahead, at me."

"Easy enough," he said, and a small smile appeared on her face.

She held her finger up in front of him, then moved it around to the left side of his face, holding it at the edge of his peripheral vision. "Can you see that?"

"Yes."

She looked relived, lowering her hand. "Okay, good. You check out. Your eye is fine."

"Good," he muttered. "I kind of need it."

She laughed. "Yes. That is true." She hesitated. "Are you...doing okay?"

"Yeah. Honestly, I feel a lot better since I actually told people about...you know." He paused. "So, can I go?"

"Yes," she said, stepping back.

He stood up and stretched. "You're very good at your job, Seri. I feel a lot better overall."

"Maya helped a _lot,_ " she replied.

"That's true. Okay, come on. We should be having the briefing very soon. We're not too far away from the next target," Seth said.

She nodded and followed him out of the infirmary, and into the main hold, where he discovered the others had already gathered. Maya was studying a datapad, but she set it aside as they came in and sat down. He settled in beside Nova, who took his hand silently.

"This," Maya said as she reached forward and tapped at the control panel that was built into the table they probably shouldn't be using as a dinner table, "is Lotus Prime."

A holographic image of a cool blue-green planet with two moons gently rotating around it appeared. "It was once a peaceful farming world, much like Dantooine, but now it is contested by the Sith. That won't concern us, however. At least, I hope so. A Republic transport carrying a Jedi overflew an island on the way to a battlefield, and he felt a strong presence of the Dark Side. As he has had experience with terentateks before, he recognized it for what it was. The Republic also picked up a strange, low-level power signature, and decided to investigate. Unfortunately, no Jedi was able to be dispatched with them, and...contact has unfortunately been lost in the past day. To make matters worse, it's a very remote location, and the fighting nearest to it has intensified, meaning no backup has been able to get out there."

" _It could be bad weather, or malfunctioning equipment,_ " Yex murmured.

"Could be, but I doubt it," Seth replied unhappily.

"Yeah," Nova growled.

"I agree that we should assume the worst. There _is_ bad weather in the region, though. Heavy winds, heavy rain. Right now, all we have to go off of is their last known location. They had managed to establish a very small, simple basecamp on the island. I thought it best to land nearby and start there," Maya said, and looked at Seth.

He nodded. "Agreed. Yex, what's our time to target?"

" _Four hours,_ " Yex replied.

"Okay. Seri, get the infirmary ready to receive causalities. Yex, once we begin our descent, I want you scanning for that energy signature and anything else you can think of constantly. Before then, we're all going to study everything we can about this island and what we might encounter on it and any kind of terrain mapping they managed," Seth said.

They all responded positively and split up.

* * *

"I noticed you were much calmer during this session...and not for the obvious reason," Maya said.

"What do you mean?" Seth replied, though he thought he had an idea. They sat on the floor of Maya's quarters, facing each other, legs folded. She was burning incense somewhere, and it gave the room a very peaceful feel.

A small smile touched her lips. "I believe that you are no longer confused about your feelings regarding Seri."

"Oh. Yeah. Her." He cleared his throat. "We, um, got things...sorted out."

"Did you now?" she teased.

"Yeah."

"Did you also sort things out with PFC Kato?"

He coughed. "Uh...yeah."

She laughed. "I'm impressed."

"Me too," he murmured.

"I'm not impressed with your...oh, how do you soldiers normally put it? Your 'body count', Seth. I'm impressed with how you handle it. You really seem okay with casual encounters. You aren't cynical about it. You aren't obsessed with being a 'player', with women getting 'too attached' to you. You accept it when they want to stop, you welcome it when they want more, but are okay with setting your own boundaries. That is...rare. In my experience."

"Maybe we should sort things out," he said, and honestly shocked himself, because he hadn't meant to say that.

Maya just smirked. "Oh, am I in your sights now?" she asked.

"What do you mean 'now'? You've been 'in my sights' since you entered my field of vision."

"I thought I scared you."

"You do. Or you did. That doesn't really...stop me."

"I have noticed that..." She paused, staring at him closely, her lips pursed, and wow, he could _not_ believe he'd just sexually propositioned a Jedi. "I appreciate the offer, but...I don't think the time is right," she said finally.

"Oh."

"Don't get me wrong. You are _quite_ attractive and the offer is very appealing...and tempting. If this were under different circumstances, I might just indulge. But...something is telling me 'no, not right now'. If we find ourselves together again in the future, then I would quite enjoy some quality time together with you, Seth."

"Well, uh, thank you," he replied.

She laughed again. He was surprised she wasn't more uncomfortable, but she'd probably had this happen often.

"Now, I believe our meditation time is up. We should get ready," she said.

He glanced at the clock. She was right. They'd spent two hours studying all the relevant intel. There wasn't much, but he wanted them to memorize it and go over some potential scenarios. After that, he'd agreed to meditate for an hour with Maya. It had actually gone really well. Maybe too well. He hadn't expected to feel so relaxed that he'd actually make a pass at Maya. He was half-tempted to just embarrass himself further by telling Nova about it simply because he knew she would find it so damned funny.

While debating the relative merits of humiliating himself for his partner's happiness, Seth left Maya's room and headed straight for the armory. He would feel better there. It was kind of like his sanctuary. Nova was already there, he saw. She was at one of the workbenches, going over her armor. He grabbed his rifle from the locker and walked over to his own workbench beside her, then settled in to work on it.

For a little bit, neither of them spoke.

Then, finally, he said, "So, uh...I made a pass at Maya."

Nova exhaled sharply and looked over at him so fast her hail-tails whipped around. "You _what!?_ You didn't!"

He chuckled nervously. "Yeah...I did. It kinda just...slipped out? I wasn't really thinking."

"Obviously," she said, smirking broadly. "...so what'd she say?"

"Her response basically boiled down to 'maybe later'."

"Oh. Wow."

"You were expecting otherwise?"

"Honestly, yeah. I thought she'd politely turn you down. She must be some special kind of Jedi...you gonna keep your promise?"

"It wasn't really a promise."

"Whatever. Are you?"

"Come on, do you even need to ask? The only thing better than going to bed with Maya would be going to bed with Maya _and_ you."

"Yeah, that's a good point." She sighed and went back to work. "That's too bad. It would've been really nice. She's _so_ hot."

"Yeah," he muttered. "Maybe after this is over? I don't know."

They went back to working in silence for a few moments, going over their gear, preparing for the mission ahead.

"So how are you doing? Like...really?" Nova asked, and her voice had lost all hints of playfulness.

"I'm okay, honestly. I thought I'd be more messed up after talking about it, but I'm doing okay. Although I'm admittedly paranoid," he replied.

"Why?"

"I think part of the reason I'm doing so well is certain external factors. Like you. And the others. And Maya's therapy sessions, or whatever they are. I mean, I haven't really had a friend, like a real friend, for a long time. I also haven't had, like, a genuine lover for a long time. I've just had casual flings that sometimes lasted a little while. Not like what we have." He paused. "Is that freaking you out at all?"

"I mean, a little," she admitted hesitantly. "But I don't think for any logical reason. I think it's more of an instinctual reaction to even a passing reference to the idea of commitment. I've been..." she heaved a long sigh. "Let's just say it's been way too long since I've met someone who I've been attracted to _and_ is a good person worth being in a relationship with. You are both of those things. Like, really, very both of those things. And because it's been so long, I've forgotten how to...handle that, I guess? And I was never good at handling it to begin with, so the bar was already low, and now it's lower."

"If it helps, I like what we've experienced together so far," Seth said.

She smiled gently. "I have, too. To be completely honest, I feel a little guilty."

"Why?"

"You're a lot better at relationships than you think you are, Seth. You're kind and patient and non-judgmental and honest and hardworking. That's been rare, in my life. And I'm this crazy, messed-up, frustrated ball of anger in the shape of a person, and I...don't deserve all that you've done for me," she replied hesitantly.

"I think you do."

"You really think so? You aren't just...putting up with me because you like to get laid?"

"Come on, you think I would?"

"It's not like you have a lot of options."

He sighed. "That's fair. But...okay, I _would_ put up with a lot in order to get laid. I admit that. I mean, most guys would, have, and do. It's just the nature of sex. But that's not what I feel like is happening here. If it was, we'd be a lot more distant."

"That's fair, I guess," she murmured.

"Nova, whatever you did before, I mean, it's done. You know? No power in the universe can take it away, can change it. All we can do is move forward. What matters is what you do. And now, what you're _doing_ is helping people."

"I suppose so," she said after a long moment.

They continued prepping their gear for the mission ahead, neither speaking the rest of their time together in the armory.

* * *

Seth looked out the window of the airlock prep bay and watched the rain streaking down the glass. Normally he liked rain, but...this was beginning to be a bit much. He liked rain in that he enjoyed the atmosphere and the way it sounded hitting the roof when he was inside, relaxing. Having to go out and operate and possibly fight in it was less pleasant. He glanced over as the wall-mounted comms unit hummed to life.

" _I am having difficulty locating the power signature in question. There is indeed something on the island, but the weather is making it very difficult. I am also having no success in raising anyone from the Republic. Life signs are also confusing, but I am not reading any sentient life signs,"_ Yex reported from the bridge.

Seth sighed. "All right. Keep trying and set us down."

" _Understood. Good luck."_

"Thanks." He looked at Maya. "Anything?"

"There is _definitely_ evil on the island, but it is...faint."

"Could it be old?" Nova asked. "Or leftover? Maybe the terentatek is dead _here,_ too."

"No," Maya replied immediately. "It's more like...hearing a heavy but distant thump somewhere else in a building. You know something is definitely there, but not where, only that it is somewhere in the area."

"That's not creepy or anything," Nova muttered.

"Great. Well, standard procedure. Weapons ready, stay alert, be prepared to encounter friendlies and hostiles," Seth replied as he heard the landing gear slide into place beneath them. Both women nodded tightly.

The ship finished setting down and shuddered around them.

He checked in one more time with Yex, reconfirmed that there was nothing worth reporting, and then strode up to the airlock. Hitting the button, he stepped in. "Wait here, I'll go out on point since we're walking in blind and I don't want to risk all three of us at once."

Both of them responded affirmatively in tight voices and then disappeared behind the closing airlock doors. Seth sealed himself in and initiated the cycle, then listened to the hiss of oxygen as the airlock matched the interior atmosphere to the exterior conditions. He began to smell rain, and some plant life…

And blood.

He felt his body react to the scent, his shoulders bunching up slightly, muscles tensing, a shiver running down his spinal column and pooling coldly in his gut. Seth rolled his shoulders, popped his neck, tried to keep himself relaxed.

The cycle finished.

He aimed his rifle at the crack where the doors would part, waiting for what felt like too many seconds as the doors finally slid open.

Darkness was revealed. He heard rainfall, and strong gusts of wind. Lightning flared and split the sky, briefly illuminating the way ahead of him. Seth caught sight of grass and dirt mostly, some plant life, and the unmistakable shape of a hastily erected Republic military shelter. Then it was gone. He keyed his radio.

"Yex, hit the exterior lights. Over."

" _Acknowledged. Over."_

With a sharp click and a whine, the ship's lighting system snapped to life and pushed back the immense, rainy gloom of the island. Everything felt into sharp clarity. Seth waited to see if anything would come questing into the light, investigating, but the scene remained unchanged. Slowly, he walked out and down the short stairway, onto the muddy, wet ground. He felt his boots sink in a little, took a few more steps, and hunted around.

He couldn't see anything moving, anything animate, but he thought Maya was right.

Something was definitely here besides them and the Republic soldiers, and it was already very worrying that no one had come forth from the encampment to challenge them. He keyed his radio once more.

"All right, come out. Nothing out here, but I can see the Republic camp. Over."

" _Coming now. Over,"_ Maya said.

He heard the airlock begin a new cycle a few seconds later. Within a minute, they were out there in the rain with him. Silently, the trio advanced on the camp. As they drew closer, Seth began to see evidence of an attack. There were three structures, though really they were more of hardened tents. Two were square and one was longer, probably serving as living quarters. That was the nearest one, set at the rear of the camp, and there was a hole ripped in its back wall. Seth made quick hand gestures, indicating Maya should go around right, Nova left, and he would go in through the hole. They nodded and headed off.

Seth moved carefully up to the hole in the back. He flipped on his flashlight, as the lights of the _Dauntless_ wouldn't help him as much here. He peered in through the hole, trying to determine what had made it. It looked torn open, like a blade had done it, but that would be tough. A lightsaber could do it, but the edges weren't burned. He didn't think he could do it, or, if he had to, the slash would be jagged, as he'd have to keep jerking the blade down with effort. This was one, clean swipe. Someone in power armor might be able to manage it.

With a sigh, after seeing nothing moving around inside, he stepped up to the edge and peered within. Sure enough, he found himself looking over the interior of some living quarters. He slipped in when he encountered no danger. His side of the building was largely taken up by a row of bunk beds, the nearest two of which were tossed over, shoved away from the hole almost like an explosion had gone off. But again, no burn marks. It looked more like brute force. Though there was a lot of scoring from blaster bolts.

They had definitely fought back.

There was a lot of blood, and his light revealed a severed arm holding a pistol. Not far away, someone's leg.

"Damn," Seth whispered, and kept hunting.

He swept the area. There was a tiny mess area set up that was little more than an oven, a small fridge, a few coolers, and a table that would serve as both counterspace and eating area. The only other area was taken up by a pair of stalls, one of which was a toilet, the other of which was a shower, with a sink between them. The stalls were empty.

He finished his sweep. "Clear in here, what's your status? Over."

" _Got an infirmary here. Basically untouched,_ " Nova replied.

" _I'm in the control structure. It was hit hard. No survivors. Over,_ " Maya replied.

"Nova, meet me in the control structure. Out."

" _Understood."_

He stepped back outside, into the rain. There likely wouldn't have been more than a dozen personnel here. He saw an unmoving shape in the middle of the camp and shined his light on it. A dead Republic soldier. As he moved over to investigate, Nova joined him and they met in the middle. The man had been gutted, his intestines spilling out, foamy and red.

The reek was awful.

"What did this?" Nova muttered, disgust creeping into her voice.

"I'm not sure," Seth murmured. "Maybe local wildlife."

"I don't know...looks oddly precise."

He frowned. He'd noticed that, too. "Come on."

They joined Maya in the final tent and found another trio of corpses scattered among flipped over desks and broken equipment. Maya was studying a datapad. "All of these computers are dead," she murmured.

"Anything else?" Seth asked, itching to move on. This place was clearly a dead-end, and there might be other survivors. If there were Republic soldiers still alive somewhere on this island, he wanted to find and help them.

"Yes..." she murmured. "Captain's logs. A man named Gibson was in charge. From what I've gathered, they made landfall, established basecamp, and began scanning. But they weren't having any luck, either. So they sent out scouts...and one of the scouts found something. A cave that looked promising, half a mile east of here."

"Sounds familiar," Nova muttered.

"How many were stationed here?"

"Nine."

"Shit," Seth muttered. "All right, let's see how many dead we can find here, then we'll make for that cave. Maybe we get lucky and we can end this here and now, and find some survivors along the way."

* * *

They found six dead in and around the camp, which meant they must have gotten hit hard and _fast_. Seth was still figuring the timeline as they finished their sweep and struck out eastbound. They must have sent a few scouts out after establishing the camp and failing to pick anything worthwhile up with their scanners, and obviously one of them managed to report back that they'd found that cave, and...apparently they'd gotten hit by whatever it was before they had managed to get their gear together to march on the cave.

Apparently, they were planning on doing that. It was the final report in Gibson's brief log.

But what had come after them? He was half-tempted to say the terentatek, it could be true, but he didn't think so. That felt somehow wrong. There'd probably be even more damage, and it would be more...random.

Seth kept turning it over in his mind as they made their way slowly across the rain-drenched island. They moved through the mud and between the occasional clusters of wind-tortured trees, and he kept his focus tight ahead of him, but let his combat senses drift out around him. It was way harder to tell if someone was sneaking up on you in a storm, but it wasn't impossible, if you'd had enough practice at it.

It especially helped to have a Jedi and a veteran bounty hunter with you.

Eventually, they reached the edge of a forest and pushed reluctantly into the dense cluster of trees. They made it about half a dozen meters before Nova motioned for them to stop. Seth froze, doing a quick scan of the area.

"Looks like there was a fight here," she said, studying a tree.

He joined her while Maya kept watch. There were signs of blaster fire, some bark blown off, the material beneath singed. Seth looked around, and sure enough, spotted another figure lying among the mud and vegetation. Nova followed his gaze and zeroed her light on it, brightening another pale Republic corpse.

This one had been decapitated.

"That's seven," she muttered.

They kept going, pressing on, finding more signs of combat. After another twenty meters, they found an eighth corpse, one who had been sliced neatly in half at the waist.

"Eight," Seth growled.

The tension grew and grew, swelling as they kept going, shifting silently between the trees, the rain pounding down all around them. This was fast going from bad to worse. He tried to keep his muscles from tensing up too much, but it was getting more difficult, and an already irritating headache was getting worse. Ever since that Mandalorian had punched the crap out of his eye he'd had a headache that never seemed to fully go away. Of course it chose now to worsen. Seth continually scanned the area around him as they stalked on.

And then, abruptly, the trees fell away, and they found their way into a clearing against a rocky cliff. It was here they found the ninth and final member of the Republic squad. She lay in the middle of the clearing, limbs sprawled out, one arm missing, stabbed through the chestplate. Still, there was no obvious sign of what had actually done the killing. Ahead, though, beyond her, was the cave that they had been seeking.

"You still sense that evil?" Seth asked, glancing at Maya.

"Yes...but it hasn't gotten much stronger," she replied, looking discontent. "It doesn't make sense. If the terentatek was in there, I'd know. Or at least I'd be more sure than this. I'm still detecting the Dark Side of the Force, but...it's hardly more powerful than it was from the ship or the camp. Something is wrong here."

"Yeah, we can agree on that," Seth muttered. He sighed. "Well, we've got to go in there."

"Yes," Maya agreed.

"Then let's get it over with," Nova said.

"Yeah." Seth activated his radio. "Yex, this is Seth. The Republic team is all accounted for and KIA. We're not sure what did it. We've located what may be the terentatek cave and we're about to head inside. Have you made any progress? Over."

" _Negative. However, I am attempting to reroute power and boost the scanners. I believe I should be able to home in on the power signature in question. Over."_

"Understood. We'll be in touch after we leave the cave. If we haven't come back out in half an hour, fly over here and try to get in touch with us. We're in a clearing half a mile east of the camp, and it should be big enough for the ship. Over."

" _Acknowledged. Over."_

"We're going in now. Out."

They looked towards the dark maw of the cave entrance. Seth shined his light into it, revealing a wet rock tunnel. As they began to make slow, steady progress into it, he had a sudden and intensely powerful sense of deja vu, convinced that he'd done this before.

And he had.

On Hoth, when they had gone in search of that terentatek.

There, it had been taken by the Sith forces. Could the same thing have happened here? Even as he was thinking it, his light glinted on something up ahead. He drifted closer, focusing on it, and suddenly a few things clicked into place.

"Oh crap," he muttered.

"Is that...a war droid?" Nova asked.

"Yes," Maya said. "A Sith war droid."

"Well, we know what killed the Republic soldiers at least," Seth said. It was the torso of a war droid, specifically one that had blades for hands. All those severed limbs and stab wounds, the precision, it all made sense. "Come on."

They pressed on, moving deeper into the tunnel, and found more partially destroyed droids. They were in pieces, bits of metal scattered everywhere, increasing in number the deeper they went in, and Seth became more and more sure of what he was seeing. Finally, the tunnel terminated in a cavern where clearly a huge fight had gone on. There was no terentatek, dead or alive.

"Well, this is bad," Seth muttered.

"At least we know what happened," Nova replied.

"Yes, and now we need to determine where they took it," Maya murmured. "It's somewhere on the island, I'm almost sure." She heaved a weary sigh. "I really don't want to have to use the Force to go hunting for it again..."

"Let's see if Yex came up with anything," Seth replied, because he didn't want that either. Besides the fact that they were almost certainly going to need her, he hated to see how much it hurt her.

They made their way quickly back out into the rain, and he activated his radio, bringing Yex up on the line.

"We're out of the cave, Yex. Definitely Sith here. Lots of destroyed droids and the terentatek's gone. Have you made any progress on that signature? Over."

" _Yes, I have. I believe I have found the rough location of the energy signature. Over."_

"Great! Come pick us up, it'll be quicker, then you can fly us there. Over."

" _Understood. I am on my way. Over."_

"We'll be waiting. Out."


	41. Chapter 41: The New Terror

"This has to be it," Seth said, staring into the dark maw that was the cave entrance Yex had brought them to.

He'd picked them up and then taken them on a quick hop of a journey across the island, landing closer to the shore, in front of a huge cliff sheer. Rain poured from the skies more heavily than ever. Lightning forked and split the skies, lighting everything up. Seth could see footprints in the mud, the oddly-shaped prints that droids tended to leave. Great.

"What's the plan?" Maya asked.

He sighed softly. "Dammit, I wish we had more backup," he muttered, staring at the darkened ingress. "Same as before," he said, speaking over the radio as well as to Maya and Nova, who stood in the area between the cave and the ship with him, "Yex and Seri wait with the ship. Prepare for the worst. Nova, Maya, and I will go inside and see what's what. If it's anything like last time, it's going to be an entire setup. Yex, if we aren't out of here in...I don't know, three hours, or you haven't heard from us, call in help, but don't come in after us. Do you understand me?"

A long pause. Then, finally, _"...understood."_

"Good. We're going in now."

" _Good luck,"_ Seri said quietly.

"Thanks. We're definitely going to need it," Seth muttered, and finally he started walking forward. He was just going to keep lingering here, waiting, unless he _made_ himself get to this, because damn he didn't want to go in there. The thing with the droids was bad enough, he'd seen what they were capable of already, but now that he was actually here, he could feel it too: the Dark Side. It was a very bad vibe and powerful enough that even he and Nova could sense it. It felt insidious and terrifying, like dread made manifest on the air.

"I _hate_ this place," Nova muttered.

"How do Sith even work in places like this?" Seth asked quietly as they began a slow trek down the wet rock tunnel they found beyond the cave entrance. "Like, seriously, how do you sleep in a place like this? Have a meal? Get laid? I'd go nuts."

"Those of the Dark Side are often desensitized to it," Maya murmured. "Those that are truly corrupted by it...they feel comfortable in places such as these. They draw strength from it."

"That's pretty awful," Nova said.

"Indeed," Maya replied.

Up ahead, a tiny sound came echoing down the rock passageway to them, and they all immediately fell silent. They had their flashlights on now, something Seth immensely hated, but at present, there were no alternatives. The way ahead almost appeared to be an unending tunnel of wet gray rock, the floor earthen and heavily trodden.

Another sound came to him, and Seth thought he saw something ahead, past the light's glow.

"Wait...turn off your lights," he whispered, killing his.

Maya and Nova killed their own, and the gloom pressed in. He stared hard into the darkness ahead, and suddenly, a single crimson orb appeared faintly. It began to resolve into something more focused. Seth thumbed the overcharge shot. He tracked the orb, and began to hear a ticking noise. He recognized it for what it was.

Footfalls.

Drawing closer.

As the overcharge shot finished, he aimed directly for the orb, trusting his instincts to guide him in the almost total darkness.

He fired.

The cave lit up for a fraction of a second as the shot sliced through the air and hit the light dead on. In that flash, he saw a droid, a thing with blades for hands and a narrow body. The shot was apparently a good one, because the droid froze up, let out a wild, whining shriek that heightened in pitch and volume until suddenly it exploded in a shower of sparks.

And in the dying light of that explosion and those sparks, beyond the droid, he caught the barest glimpse of what looked like several more.

"Oh crap..." he whispered.

As his vision readjusted, he saw many more red dots in the gloom, advancing slowly.

"Back up, back up, now," he said as he grabbed a fragmentation grenade. He thought better of it and grabbed two. "Run!" he yelled as he primed and tossed both of them in quick succession. Then he hauled ass after them. They barely managed to make it out of the blast radius, and still the concussive force, funneled down the cave right towards them, knocked them all off their feet. Seth lurched to his feet, grasping his rifle, preparing for the inevitable counterattack if any of the metal bastards had survived.

As he turned around and stared hard into the dust, rifle tucked up tight against his shoulder, finger on the trigger, he waited. And waited for several more seconds. The dust settled. Evidently, his ploy had worked: none of them had survived.

Of course, that did have a big drawback.

"Well, if they didn't know we were here before, they sure do now," Nova said.

"Yep," Seth groaned. "We'd better press whatever surprise we still have on our side. Come on."

He loped off down the tunnel, sweeping the remains of the droids with his flashlight. Yeah, they'd pretty much been caught right at ground zero and the blast had dismantled them, leaving behind nothing more than sparking, twisted metal. Seth tried to keep from freaking out too much. This was a pretty bad place to be in, a pretty awful situation: they were in one, long tunnel with no places to fall back to, no places to hide behind cover, and the unknown ahead. If any hostile with a projectile weapon was waiting for them, he could take a bolt right in the face and get snuffed out in an instant, like it was nothing.

But that's what you had to deal with sometimes.

This time, his luck held out. He managed to make it to the end of the passageway without running into anyone or anything else. It terminated in an airlock that was locked down.

"Nova?" he asked.

"Yeah, I got it," she replied, crouching by the control panel and setting to work hacking it open. He and Maya watched her back.

"What do you think?" he asked.

"Nothing good," Maya murmured. "This is the second time we've caught Sith with a captured terentatek. What are they _doing_ with them? What do they want them for? I'm positive they want to weaponize them somehow, in some way, it's all they ever do, and if that's really what's happening here, then we _must_ shut it down. This is exactly why we're trying to wipe them out. Normally I don't condone genocide, ever, but these things are walking personifications of evil, and they are simply too dangerous to let live."

"Won't get any argument from me."

"I've got it," Nova said.

They turned back around and prepared themselves as she opened up the outer door. It snapped open and revealed a stark white interior.

"Can you get the inner door open, too? I don't want to have to cycle through. Too easy to get trapped," Seth asked.

"Yep," Nova replied.

A moment later, the inner door began to open. Seth kept his aim steady, waiting, watching as another room beyond was revealed. It appeared empty. He frowned. Had to be a trap, right? There was no way their sensors weren't screaming bloody murder about their presence for one reason or another. But he heard nothing, saw nothing but a mostly empty room.

"Cover me," he whispered, and started moving inside.

He got to the threshold, more of the empty room revealed, and did a quick sweep of it. It was indeed empty, though he saw a trio of doorways, and each was conveniently labeled. Dead ahead was **BASE ACCESS** , whereas left led to **GALLEY/INFIRMARY** and right would take them to **DORMS**. So, this is where the sentient element would be living, sleeping, eating, all the annoying things that architects had to begrudgingly make room for when planning these remote outposts. Seth raised his hand and made a quick gesture to the left.

"I'll take right," he whispered.

They nodded and headed off. Seth went off on his own, rifle still charged and ready, his light off now as the place was properly lit. He moved across the ingress room and over to the door. Hitting the button, he waited as the door opened up. No one called out or showed up, so he slipped in and found himself in a hallway that stretched away from him. There were about a dozen doors in either wall and one at the end.

Great. With a soft sigh, he got to work checking them.

Two things became immediately obvious. The first was that this was a really awful place to live, and he was in danger of feeling some sympathy for the Sith bastards who lived here. The second thing was...this place was shaping up to be a ghost town. As he kept checking each room, finding a pair of bunk beds, a pair of dressers, and a single desk, Seth expected to find someone. Either someone sleeping or dressing or even just hiding. That last one more and more, because it was obvious that _something_ was wrong here.

The base clearly was not abandoned, as they'd run into evidence that it was functional, and it couldn't all be droids. Dozens of personnel could be stationed here, based on these dorms. And yet all of them were empty. No, empty wasn't the right word. Abandoned. There were clear signs of life. Clothes on the beds or the floor, open drawers, unmade beds. Seth searched every last one of them, including the room at the end of the hallway, which was a shared shower and bathroom area, and found not a soul.

He quickly returned to the main room and found Maya and Nova waiting for him.

"Anyone?" Nova asked.

He shook his head and began to respond, then froze as he felt a shudder run through the floor. "Did you feel that?" he whispered.

"Yes," they both replied at once.

They waited, and several seconds later, a second, more powerful one came. The lights flickered. "Explosions," he muttered. "Deeper in the facility. Lower."

"Could they be...expanding their base? Mining charges?" Maya asked uncertainly.

"I don't think this place would be a ghost town if that was the case...I think something's gone wrong with whatever it is they're doing here. Come on."

They moved over to the third door, and again Nova had to slice her way in. He and Maya waited, and as soon as the door opened, another room was revealed. A security checkpoint, with an elevator at its back, and it was just as empty as the rest of the first floor.

"This is so weird," Nova whispered after they had cleared the area.

"Armory's cleaned out," he muttered.

"Then I suppose we should prepare for a fight," Maya replied uncomfortably.

"What else is new?" Seth growled, checking over his rifle once more, then doing the same with his pistol. He looked at the lift. It seemed more menacing than it had when he'd first entered the room a few moments ago.

The lights flickered again as they approached the lift.

"We ready?" Nova asked as they got up to it.

"Do it," Seth replied.

Again, she sliced the door, and there was a pause. He heard the lift coming up to them, a soft, whirring hum that was steadily growing louder. Seth's heart began to thump harder in his chest as he covered the doors with his rifle. Maya had her lightsaber out. Not on yet, but out and ready. The lift clicked into place, and was completely silent for a few seconds. Nova was off to the right, her own rifle aimed and ready.

The doors opened.

A bloody, flickering interior was revealed.

"Well that's promising," Nova muttered.

Seth slowly edged forward until he had a good view of the elevator, which was of a decent size, no doubt meant to take equipment and supplies as much as personnel, and found it empty. There was just a lot of blood, all of it red, smeared across the interior and pooled on the floor.

"Let's do this," he said, and they joined him.

Once they were in, he hit the down button, and hoped against hope.

* * *

The elevator clicked into place.

Already, Seth could hear blaster fire. As he waited for the doors to open, he heard someone screaming, and more blaster fire, someone just going all out. The doors opened. Another entrance lobby lay beyond them, but this one was in significantly worse shape. There were scorch marks on the walls, and blood splashed across them, and pooled on the floor, and he could see two corpses just from where he was standing right now.

Something was burning, he realized.

Before he could even take a step out, a loud scream cut through the air and someone, who was lit up like a torch, completely engulfed in flames, sprinted in front of them, left to right, and disappeared as fast as they had appeared.

"Wow," Nova whispered.

Seth stepped out and surveyed the area in a tight glance. Again, three doors. The ones to the left and right stood open, but they closed while he was securing the room. It sounded like a warzone down there, like a battle was raging all around them.

"Where do we begin?" Maya murmured.

Seth's gaze fell squarely on a workstation tucked away in one corner and he hurried over to it. "Watch my back."

While they kept watch, he got in behind the desk and fired up the terminal he found there. Unsurprisingly, the internal network was a complete mess and he could hardly access anything. What he _could_ access, though, was a map of the area. He waved the others over and began memorizing it as best he could.

The way to the right was likely a dead end, as it just seemed to be comprised of storage. The way ahead was the lift that led down to the next level. Everything else, including a control room, was to the right, and it seemed as if they'd have to go through a decent amount to get there. There were several science labs, an office complex, some storage, some infirmaries, armories, security checkpoints…

"Great," Seth muttered. "All right, let's do this quick. I think we should make for the control room. If we can get control of this whole place, we can get a better idea of what's actually happening here. Memorize routes there, best and two alternates, because I imagine we're going to run into a lot of problems from the sound of it."

Both women responded affirmatively and they spent another few moments studying the map. As soon as he felt confident they all had it, they began to make for the left exit. Seth looked over the two bodies in the room as they crossed it. Whatever had killed them had used...claws, he realized. They weren't neat enough for blades, they were too uneven, too nasty and feral. Had the terentatek gone on a killing rampage?

It was certainly possible. But a squadron of Sith soldiers should be able to handle it...did they have more than one here? Just what he needed. Seth sighed and refocused. He steeled himself for the worst as they approached the door that would lead into the rest of the facility. They got into position, and then Nova hit the access button. The door slid open. Somewhere, an alarm was blaring. Seth took point, moving slowly into the next room, which was a crossroads where several corridors met. They ran into a problem immediately.

Nova went to get the right-side door open, the most direct way to the control room, and couldn't. "It's locked down too tight," she said. "I could do it if I had half an hour."

"Damn. All right, next route, come on," Seth replied, heading over to the door directly across from the way they'd come in. He waited by it, listening, and heard nothing happening on the other side. He opened it. A corridor came into view, with rows of doors set into both walls. This was the office complex, and what fun it was going to be to get through. Anything could be behind any of those doors, and half of them were standing open.

He sighed softly and made quick motions to the others. Nova took up watch in the main corridor while he broke left and Maya broke right, both of them checking each door as they passed them. Occasionally, someone would let out a distant scream, or a burst of blaster fire would sound, or the lights would flicker, piling on the tension. The first office door he came to was shut. He opened it and peered inside. The workstation and computer chair he expected to see, but he didn't expect to see the torso of a twi'lek man trailing entrails out the bottom in the middle of the room in a massive pool of blood.

His legs were nowhere to be seen.

"Wow," Seth whispered.

"What?" Maya asked.

"Uh...casualty. Better left unseen," he replied, and swept the area again, then froze as his eyes settled on a ventilation grate.

It was broken open from the inside.

"Whatever is doing this can come from the vents," he said.

"I was just about to say that," Maya murmured. He glanced over. She was onto the second office now, staring unhappily into it.

"Great," Nova muttered.

Seth finished his search of the first office, then moved onto the second. It was empty. He shifted down to the third and found a lot more blood waiting for him, no body though. As he prepared to move to the fourth, he heard sharp, heavy breathing suddenly, and chewing. It was coming from ahead of them, around the corner at the end of the passageway. Slowly, he turned towards it and thumbed the overcharge again.

Something snapped wetly, what sounded like a bone.

He made quick hand motions, but even as he did, he heard a warning grunt and deep snuffling. Suddenly, a low, keening moan sounded, and footfalls began to draw closer. Seth cursed softly and dropped to one knee, aiming down the passageway. The lights flickered. The footsteps drew closer. Something growled. Whatever it was, it definitely was not a terentatek, the treading was way too light for that half-ton monster.

Something dark slipped into view from around the corner.

"What the...what is _that!?_ " Nova whispered sharply.

It was a terentatek...but not a terentatek. It was far too small and slim for one thing, but he immediately recognized the talons, and the face of the beast, the huge tusks. Though leaner and sharper and shinier, it was definitely the face of a terentatek. And it had that ugly, darkish, green-brown leathery skin, though it was shading much closer to midnight blue in some places. The thing let out a wild shriek and began coming for them with a terrifying speed.

Seth aimed and fired. And missed. His overcharged shot almost hit it, and from the way it shrieked again, he guessed that he'd at least clipped it. Nova fired off a volley of blaster bolts and peppered its position, but that didn't seem to stop it. It did some damage, but not enough. Seth added his fire to the barrage as his rifle finished overheating, but as it became apparent that this wasn't working, Maya called for them to cease fire and sprinted forward. She drew her blade, turned it on, and swiped in one smooth action, then sidestepped neatly.

The miniature terentatek came apart into two halves at the waist.

Seth began to sigh in relief as it hit the floor and rolled a few times, landing at his feet, but then it suddenly snarled and its clawed hand shot out and grabbed for him.

"Dammit!" he snapped, aiming for its skull and pumping a dozen bolts into it.

 _That_ seemed to finally kill it.

"What are these things?!" Nova snapped.

"We may be looking at some attempted cloning project of terentatek DNA," Maya said. "This is very bad. We _have_ to shut this place down, we have to wipe it out completely. Obviously they've created something extremely dangerous here and we need to shut it down."


	42. Chapter 42: Purge

They reached the end of the office complex without running into any further problems.

Seth had very serious doubts that this would last, though. It sounded like a war was being waged beneath the surface of this uncharted island on Lotus Prime, and again he found himself dangerously close to feeling sympathy for the Sith. Having to fight these things was pretty awful. But they'd brought it on themselves. Then again, how many of them here were just soldiers? Techs? Probably most of them.

Did that make it okay? At this point he sure didn't think so. But how many of them had gotten in under false pretenses? Or genuinely didn't think the Sith were that bad? Like, they actually thought it was a matter of ideological differences, and they thought stuff like the Dark Side and blowing up Taris and mass slaughter were just Republic propaganda? He didn't know if he could ever stop hating the Sith, but a begrudging kind of sympathy might not be out of the question. He pushed these thoughts away as he heard a whirring noise coming from up ahead, something mechanical, and it set his internal defenses on edge.

"Wait here," he whispered.

They were now in the hallway that the terentatek creature had come from, nearing its end, which terminated in an open door. He crept up to it and peered slowly into the room beyond, ready for anything. Ideally, anyway. Another transition room and their next real stop waited. It was a security checkpoint that had been shredded by what looked like a huge assault. He spied a pair of assault droids patrolling the area, and felt a cold stone settle into his gut. They were definitely of a higher grade than the ones he'd killed in the tunnel.

They sported blades and flamethrowers. Even as he was watching, something shrieked wildly and dropped from an overhead ventilation grate into the room. The nearest droid slashed out with a terrifying speed and chopped terentatek clone into two parts, slicing through its upper chest. As both halves hit the floor, the other droid turned to join the assault and they both loosed sprays of fire onto them.

Well, there was no time like the present, Seth thought as he found himself wondering when and if he should attack them, and lobbed another fragmentation grenade into the room. It landed between them and they both immediately twisted around to face him. He shouted as a hot blast of fire jetted out at him and he fell back.

"Droids!" he called, rushing back towards the other two.

He joined them as an explosion ruptured, then skidded to a halt and whirled around, rifle raised. Almost immediately, one of them emerged in the hallway, and the other was right behind it. They didn't look all that damaged.

"Oh crap," he muttered, and opened fire.

Nova and Maya joined him, Maya blasting away with the pistol she carried. They peppered the droids with blaster bolts, hosing them down and laying as much as they could into them. But these things were built tough. As they drew close enough, both droids opened up with their flamethrowers, forcing them back.

Maya cursed and then suddenly threw her lightsaber at them. It twisted through the air and sheered expertly and cleanly through one of them, making a diagonal slice and chopping off its head, right arm, and part of its chest. The thing stumbled as her saber arced back around and then cut off the head of the second one as it came back to her waiting hand. Both of them staggered, firing their flamethrowers randomly now, before collapsing into a heap of twitching metal. With a grunt, Maya sent a blast of the Force down the hallway, extinguishing the flames.

"Come on," she said, and hurried on.

Seth and Nova ran after her. They managed to make it through another crossroads, and then down one other hallway before they ran into another problem. As they approached the end of the corridor, something shrieked wildly and then a surge of blaster fire responded. The shrieking took on a different quality and abruptly cut off. The blaster fire fell away.

"Wait," Seth said, and got up to the door. He peeked slowly around the frame and into the room beyond, just managing to catch sight of a few dead terentatek creatures and the fact that it was a security center before a fresh array of blaster fire stabbed out from a ceiling-mounted turret. He cursed and fell back, barely managing to avoid the barrage of deadly energy.

"What is it?" Maya asked.

"Turret mounted on the ceiling," he replied.

She frowned. "Get an overcharged shot ready. I can temporarily disable it with the Force," she said, hurrying up to the other side of the open doorway.

He nodded and thumbed the overcharge feature. As soon as the weapon finished humming and was ready, he again nodded tightly to Maya. She focused intently, then hastily leaned out and gestured sharply into the room. There was a loud crackling sound, then the telltale whirring of something losing power. As she pulled back, making room for Seth, he leaned back around, aimed, and fired. The overcharged shot nailed its intended target, and the turret burst into a ball of sparks and twisted metal. He did another survey of the room, this one less hurried, and saw that, for the time being at least, there were no immediate threats.

He went in first and did a more thorough check, then called in the others once he was sure there was nothing lurking. It was definitely a security center, and it had been ripped to shreds. There were a good dozen bodies of the smaller terentateks scattered about, mixed in with a half-dozen base personnel, who had also been torn to shreds. There was a lot of blood. Seth thought about it for a moment. There were three other ways out of the security checkpoint and he was seeing the map in his head. Left led to a storage area, and right led back to the main corridor where they wanted to go, and dead ahead would take them through some infirmaries-

A bolt of blaster fire seared past him as the left door opened up.

Seth shouted in anger and surprise as he twisted and snapped off some return fire. He took a Sith soldier right in the faceplate and the silver-armored son of a bitch flew backwards into three more. Cursing loudly, he opened fire as he strafed.

"Get the right-side door open!" he screamed.

"On it!" Nova shouted.

Maya took up a stance in the middle of the room and began deflecting blaster bolts with her lightsaber. She was shockingly good at it, not just deflecting them each time, but almost always deflecting them directly back at those who had fired the shot. Seth got down behind a desk as he sent off a fresh volley of return fire. He put down another two Sith soldiers, but he could see another _dozen_ of the bastards coming down the hallway at them. Great. He shot out the faceplate of another Sith soldier and then ducked down to avoid incoming fire.

"Where are we, Nova?!" he yelled.

"Almost there!" she snapped back.

He leaned out from behind the desk and fired off some burst-fire, peppering the soldiers at the front who still hadn't managed to find cover in the hallway. He shot one man in the chest and took out the knee of another, and managed to get glancing blows on another two. One man went down as a deflected blaster bolt hit him in the neck. Seth popped out from behind cover twice more, managing to down another three silver-armored troopers, before a glancing blow winged his right shoulder and knocked him on his ass.

"Nova!" he shouted.

"Got it!"

He twisted around, looking at the opening door while reaching for another grenade, one of his last at this point, and preparing to cover their retreat, when he actually saw what was behind the closed door.

" _Nova, get back!_ " he screamed.

A pack of terentatek creatures was charging down another corridor.

"Maya, Force blast the soldiers!" Seth screamed as he primed his second to last grenade and hurled it at the terentateks. "Nova! Come on!" he roared and sprinted for the door at the front of the room. He heard the incredibly odd sound of a powerful rush of displaced air as Maya released a solid wall of the Force into the soldiers, knocking them over like bowling pins and buying them precious seconds. He slammed into the door controls and found them unlocked. Punching the open button, he prepared himself for some fresh horror, but the way ahead of this door was clear.

"Through!" he yelled as he spun around.

Maya and Nova slipped through the door. He made sure nothing was on their ass and caught a glimpse of the tide of terentatek creatures, largely unaffected by the grenade, surging into the room. He leaped back and slammed his fist on the close button, then punched the lock button. A second later, he heard something slam against the door, and a second after that, he heard several voices begin to scream in terror and agony.

Well, at least they were fighting each other.

"Go! Go!" he shouted, turning and sprinting from the door.

The trio ran down the length of the passageway. He knew the door probably wouldn't hold for all that long and he furiously thought about what the next best path to take was. This would take them through the infirmaries. The door at the end of the hallway was open and it led into a bright white room. Seth could already see huge red splashes in there. Great. He kept booking it, preparing to close another door behind them. He made it into the room and-

"Damn!"

Something grabbed him and threw him to the white-tiled floor. He heard Maya scream his name and he managed to get onto his back, attempting to grab hold of whatever it was that had him. It was _strong_. And then he realized that one of the terentatek things had pounced on him. His rifle had been thrown from his grasp and there was no way he could reach for his knife or pistol.

"Close the door!" he snarled as he fought with it, but it was obviously a losing battle.

The creature was shrieking wildly in his face, tusks threatening to rip his flesh off, when suddenly it shuddered violently and then went rigid as he heard Maya's lightsaber hum. Now that it wasn't actively grabbing him anymore, Seth rolled it off of him. He saw that Maya had already turned away from him to engage yet another one. Nova was shutting the door, closing off their previous path. He saw his rifle had landed a few meters away and scrambled after it, listening to Maya fight. He snagged it and then surged to his feet just in time to see Maya stab the creature through its face. They stood there like that for a moment, almost looking statuesque, frozen in death and murder, it transfixed on her saber.

Then she ripped it out and the thing slammed to the floor.

Something banged violently against the door Nova had just closed.

"Dammit!" she snapped. Up ahead, at the other end of the long medical bay they had come into, was another closed door, and something banged up there too, causing a deep dent to appear.

"That isn't going to hold for long," Maya said.

"This is too much," Nova groaned.

"We're almost there, we have to keep pushing. Come on," Seth replied, and hurried over to a door in the right wall. He opened it up and shot a pair of Sith soldiers in their faceplates, killing them instantly. Behind them, down a hallway and in another transnational chamber, a battle was occurring between two small armies of combat droids and terentatek beasts. There had to be two dozen of the things killing each other in there.

"That's where we have to go," Maya said softly.

"Yeah," Seth muttered. The control room was through there and down one more hallway and they'd be there. "This is gonna hurt."

"Maybe we should wait for them to thin each other out..." Nova murmured.

"I think we should go now, while things are so chaotic," Seth replied.

Nova sighed, then looked at Maya. "I guess you're the tiebreaker? Although you said Seth has operational control of combat situations."

"I'll listen," Seth replied. "Believe me, I don't want to do this, but chaos can be your ally."

"I think Seth is right," Maya said.

Nova sighed. "Well, I'm not gonna back out. I'm game if you are then."

"Let's get it done," Seth said, and raised his blaster rifle. He grabbed his last grenade as they started making their way down the corridor. "Maya, you think you can clear us a path using the Force?" he asked.

"I can try," she replied.

"Okay. I'm gonna throw this grenade, once it goes off, do it."

"Check."

They reached the end of the passageway and he tossed the grenade to the left, then pulled back. He counted down in his head, and as soon as the grenade blew, sending a blast of flames and burning metal fragments everywhere, Maya stepped out, raised her hand, and released a solid wave of the Force. He heard several solid thuds as droids and terentateks went flying.

"Go!" she shouted, raising her lightsaber and rushing off. Seth went out after her. Nova brought up the rear.

It was chaos.

There was a path, but already he could see it closing. They rushed across the room, and almost managed to make it to the door on the other side without a problem. Almost. One of the droids stepped into the path and took a slash at Seth. He was quick enough to step out of its path and avoid some serious damage, but not quick enough to avoid the blow altogether. The blade was incredibly sharp, and cut down across his ribs. He yelled as he felt it bite through his armor and uniform, cutting a burning line of pain through his flesh.

He stuffed the blaster rifle in its mechanized face, inasmuch as it had a face, and unloaded. He was worried it might not be enough, but evidently he hit something sensitive and the lights immediately faded from the thing's sensors. They made it across the room and hit the corridor running. Well, that was that part out of the way. Now they had to actually get into the damned control room. And of course the door at the end was closed.

If they couldn't get it open in time…

"Nova, get ready to get the door open!" he snapped, knowing she had the best chance.

"Ready!" she called back.

They cut the distance between themselves and the door down until it was nothing, and he punched the open button. It buzzed, indicating it was locked. Cursing, he strafed out of the way to give Nova access while spinning back around. Looking back the way they'd come, he saw that another pair of the terentatek miniatures were coming down the passageway at them at a brisk pace.

"Do it fast, Nova," he said, aiming his rifle. The energy cartridge was running low. He charged all of the remaining energy into a single shot, aimed, and fired. The brilliant burst of energy sailed through the air and hit one of the terentateks in the face, ripping away half of its skull in a burst of charred flesh. It dropped to the floor and began thrashing violently, mindlessly. There was something hideously disturbing about the sight.

Maya threw her lightsaber towards the second monster, decapitating it, where it went to join its brother in the awful dance of the not-quite dead. The saber came twirling back around to her and she caught it effortlessly. That was one of the more impressive feats that he had seen the Jedi achieve, given he knew that you wouldn't just get a deep cut if you grabbed it by the blade by mistake. So far, he had yet to see one screw up the move.

Another three terentatek creatures appeared at the end of the hallway, and the sounds of conflict were rapidly dying down. It seemed like the organic nightmares were winning.

"Nova?"

"Almost! Almost!" she snapped.

Seth hastily reloaded and opened fire, trying to stall them. Maya threw her saber again and chopped the arm off of one of them. That didn't seem to slow it down too much. If anything, it seemed to enrage the creature and it surged towards them, shrieking. Seth gritted his teeth, squeezing the trigger, hosing them down since they were such easy targets at the moment, trying to slow them down as much as possible.

"Done!" Nova yelled, and he heard the door open. He tossed a glance back over his shoulder and saw Nova slip in through the door, then he saw her shout and raise her pistol, then open fire. Crap! There were Sith inside! Of course there were. Maya slipped in and he saw her leap forward with her saber drawn. Seth turned and ran to join them, then hastily closed and re-locked the door behind them. Turning back around, hoping that Maya and Nova had whatever the situation was under control, he caught a faceful of silver-armored fist.

Seth cried out as he was knocked right off his feet and yet again landed on the floor, seeing stars wash across his vision. His hand was already going for his pistol and he managed to rip it out, aim and blast out a shot as his vision shifted back into focus. He managed to get a shot right through the broad chest of the soldier that had attacked him. The big guy toppled forward onto him. He grunted again as the dead weight fell onto him. That was happening way too often recently. He pushed the body up and off, shoving it, and staggered once more to his feet just in time to see Maya slash violently through the last remaining Sith trooper.

"Okay, we need a solution fast," Nova said as one of the terentateks slammed into the door.

Something was flashing red not far away. Seth looked at it. "I think they were just about to initiate a solution..." he murmured.

"What is that?" Maya asked. "What's...a Neutron Purge?"

"Very, very deadly," Seth replied. He hurried over to the console and typed in a few commands. Immediately, a sheet of solid metal slammed over each of the exits.

"What's that? What's happening?" Nova asked.

"Don't worry. Protection. The Sith had a neutron purge as a final option here. Basically, it's a wave of energy that's going to shoot through the facility and kill...everything. Everything that isn't in this room."

"Including the droids?" Maya asked.

"Yeah, they won't be able to stand up to it," Seth replied. He hit a key. The lights dimmed suddenly and a loud whining began to fill the air. Distantly, he could hear the sounds of the terentatek creatures trying fruitlessly to get in, though he knew that given enough time, they probably could get through even that reinforced door.

"Is this, uh, safe?" Nova asked.

"Well...look at it this way: I can't stop it now," Seth replied.

"You-you asshole!" she snapped.

He pointed to another screen. "You see that?"

She glared at him, then followed his finger. "Holy crap, what's all that?" she asked, looking at a holographic display of the floor they were on.

It was swarming with red dots.

"Each of those red dots is a terentatek clone or mutation or whatever they are," he replied.

"There's over a hundred of them..." Maya whispered.

"Okay, fine," Nova muttered after a few seconds. "We'd better survive this."

"I find myself in agreement," Seth replied, then winced as his chest wound sent out a pulse of pain, reminding him that it existed as his adrenaline high lapsed.

"Let me see that," Nova said.

While she helped him, Maya walked over to the display showing the base. She began typing and the display changed.

"You keep getting hurt," Nova muttered as she took off his chestpiece and began to slather on some kolto. "Seri isn't the only one who gets upset about this."

"I mean, what do you want? An apology? I sure wasn't _trying_ to get sliced by a droid," Seth replied.

She sighed. "Sorry, I'm not trying to berate you. I'm just trying to...let you know that I care. But I mean, I get it. Probably more than Seri does, I think. Because I keep getting hurt, too. I just...I don't know. I don't even know what I'm saying. I just hate this."

"Believe me, I do, too," he said. He winced. "I understand. But we gotta do this. No one else is gonna do it, Nova."

"I know, I know," she muttered. "This just...it isn't my thing, you know? I mean, I hunt bounties. I go hunt down real pieces of garbage. Sometimes I drag them in, sometimes I just...end it then and there. I mean, I do it because I want to do good in the galaxy. But this is...it's out of my pay-grade, yeah? And it's intimidating sometimes, and I hadn't been properly intimidated since before you crashed into my damned life."

"Is that...bad?" he asked.

She sighed and finished with his wound. "I don't know," she admitted. "I don't think so." She smiled suddenly. "No. It brought you. It's good. Everything else can screw off, it brought you. That's what matters."

"I, uh...thanks," he murmured, and pulled his chestpiece back on.

She laughed and pointed a finger at him. "Don't let it go to your head."

"Understood," he replied, which just made her laugh again.

Suddenly, the whining grew much louder, reaching a fever pitch, and the lights actually went out for a few seconds. All at once, the darkness fell, the whine died away, and so did the banging. Suddenly, it was still and silent.

Then the lights came back on.

"Well...uh, mission accomplished?" Seth asked.

"No. We might have a problem," Maya replied.

Seth groaned, feeling a cold stone of anxiety and fear settle into his gut. "What?"

"This is us, here," she said, pointing at the holographic schematic. They joined her, studying the screen. The room she was pointing to was outlined in red. "That outline, it means we're protected from the purge, right?"

"Right," Seth replied.

"Then here..." she typed another command and the screen changed, "...is the problem."

It shifted to the next level down, which was much smaller and simpler, with just three rooms connected by corridors.

The largest room there was also outlined in red.

"Crap," Nova muttered.

"We gotta go down there, huh?" Seth asked.

"Yep. Good chance the terentatek's still down there, and if that's the case, we gotta kill it," Maya replied.

Seth sighed and rubbed his tired eyes. "Okay...let's finish this."


	43. Chapter 43: Heart of Darkness

The first thing that hit Seth as he released the lockout and got the door open, (the secondary exit, they couldn't get the door they'd come in through open because it was too dented out of shape), was the stench. It was an acidic smell of burned meat and something much worse. He found himself looking into a short corridor of flash-fried corpses, all of them coated in a layer of burned flesh and ash. He coughed, wincing, and wondered if the stench came from the neutron purge or the terentatek corpses. In the end, he decided it didn't really matter and that the sooner they could go through this scorched nightmare, the better.

And so he began walking, taking the most direct route he could back to the elevator. They'd made sure that all the doors were unlocked, though that only extended to the top two levels. The one below them, the final level, was on its own security network that could not be accessed from anywhere but on that level they had discovered. Well, except for the neutron purge, _that_ hit almost everywhere. As they walked through the now silent installation, Seth found himself thinking of his chest wound. It burned dully, but that wasn't what had him thinking.

He was wondering how much he could take.

Seth Kast had come to think of himself as very tough, physically speaking. It was something he had ensured through years of rigorous and diligent training, (something he had admittedly been slacking on recently, though he thought he was making up for it in sheer combat). Toughness was first a promise to himself, and then it became a matter of ego, and finally it had simply become a matter of fact. After a certain point, he'd kind of started to take it for granted. And it wasn't just physical strength, but mental fortitude, endurance, pain tolerance, and a handful of other qualities, all of which he had worked hard to strengthen over the past dozen years.

But he still knew that even with all this training, all this experience, all this time invested in almost nothing but strengthening himself, he still had a limit.

It had been reached more than once on this journey. How many times had he passed out? How much pain had he endured? How many new scars had he collected? Dxun had been pretty bad. Taris had been worse.

Death was something that he had resented initially, because he feared it. Eventually, he'd taken a sort of 'I don't give a crap' attitude that punks who knew they were hot stuff tended to adopt. You sort of came to think of yourself as above death, eventually. After that came a sort of respect for it, and then an acceptance of it. If you put on the armor and picked up the rifle, you accepted that you might die sooner rather than later.

And then, eventually, he had come to welcome it.

How many times had he gone into battle sure that he wouldn't come out the other side intact?

Too many to count at this point. Eventually, he came back around to resenting, even hating, death. Because now it seemed as if it would not claim him. Sometimes, he felt cursed. Poisoned. Afflicted. Once, he imagined that he walked like the damned must. He had come to feel as though death was haunting him, and then wondering if death had abandoned him. He just kept on...living. Only it didn't feel like living, it didn't even feel like surviving after awhile.

It felt like…

Dying without dying.

It was a haunting, harrowing, hollowed-out existence. He felt like a skeleton, a husk, no more than a shell of himself.

Sometimes he'd wondered if he was even still alive.

And now here he was, wanting to be alive. Wanting to survive. Being around these people, these four people, traveling with them, talking to them, listening to them, experiencing battle and life with them, having meals with them, connecting with them…

It was like an antidote to the existential apathy that had poisoned his spirit.

And so that made him wonder how much more he could take. How far he could go. And there was still a small part of him, perhaps the last vestiges of that poison, that wanted to see how far he could push it. That wanted more pain, more suffering. Wanted to soak in it, revel in it, live in it. He wanted to see how much he could endure and triumph over.

Some people might call it being suicidal, but if anything, it was almost the opposite.

Maybe he was just a masochist.

Seth began to still his mind, his thoughts, because he needed to be razor sharp. He needed to be focused for whatever lay ahead, because in his experience, the worst of the worst typically was saved for the very last part of wherever it was they were investigating. And that probably meant that they would have to face the original terentatek itself, which he was not looking forward to. Although maybe they had gotten off lucky, and they were done fighting.

"Ugh, I can't believe how bad this is," Nova muttered as they neared the elevator.

"The smell is pretty bad," Maya murmured.

"I mean it is, but I was more talking about the purge. Like...holy crap, this is just wholesale slaughter. I've never seen anything like this," Nova replied.

"There's a good reason for that: having them is a crime against sentience. There was a peace accord awhile ago that supposedly everyone agreed to and neutron purges were on the list of what we all agreed not to use...and I just used one," Seth explained.

"Against the Sith and their cloned beasts," Nova said.

"Yeah, but it's still...this is pretty bad," he muttered.

"You did what you had to do. I would have done the same. This is too important, unfortunately," Maya said quietly.

Nova sighed. "Yeah, I agree. It's just...it's a bit much."

"War always is," Seth murmured. That was another thing that was weighing heavily on him, but he'd been trying very hard to push it down. He'd done a lot of bad things, killed a lot of people. Probably the thing that was bugging him was that he didn't regret hitting the button. He didn't even regret that he didn't hesitate. He'd just done it. Because Maya was right, it needed to be done, this was too important.

And he wondered how right he was going to be in the future, if faced with a similar choice.

They came to the door that had initially been locked down, and moved through it, and a security checkpoint beyond. A dozen combat droids lay sparking on the floor. Their metal frames sported burned-out spots in several places where their circuitry had overloaded or blown out. Some of them were just heaps of pieces scattered across the room. The only other real solace he could take from this whole thing was that it was at least instantaneous, though he did feel kind of ill at the thought of what it must have been like for the soldiers who almost certainly knew that the purge was coming for them and there was literally no escape.

 _Maybe_ some of them had gotten back up to the first floor and escaped in that tunnel, but it seemed pretty unlikely.

Seth walked over to the elevator and hit the button. The doors slid open, revealing a pair of Sith soldiers, flash-fried and completely still, crumpled, wilted really, on the floor. He had an image of flowers withering beneath the unstoppable force of a flamethrower and felt his stomach twitch. Forcing himself onward, he stepped into the elevator. Maya and Nova joined him a second later, and Maya hit the down button.

The doors closed and the metal cube of death began to descend.

The ride seemed to take an excruciatingly long time, and the smell grew worse. Not a word was spoken as they descended deeper into the complex. Seth had to fight not to look down at the bodies that lay at his feet, almost as if in silent testament to the atrocity he had just committed. He swallowed and focused on the door.

Maya shivered after a bit, and he thought he knew what was bothering her.

The Dark Side energy was so thick down here that he could feel it, he could imagine what it must be like for her.

At long last, the elevator settled into its nest, and the doors opened. Another corpse, a terentatek creature, awaited them in an antechamber beyond. They stepped out, weapons at ready, just in case. There were a few more dead terentatek creatures around, but nothing alive. Three doors awaited them, one in each wall.

"We should clear the side places first," Maya said softly.

"Yeah...someone needs to stay here and guard the lift, in case that door opens," Seth replied.

"Who does it?" Nova asked.

Seth considered it for a moment. "Maya," he said finally. "You're the best fighter of the three of us. Makes you the best choice."

"And if you run into something that survived in one of these other rooms?" she asked.

Seth frowned and looked down at the nearest corpse. "I don't think that's going to happen, but we shouldn't be too far away from each other. Nova and I will stick together."

"Very well," Maya replied. "I will maintain vigilance here."

"Thank you."

He and Nova broke left first, opening the door and finding themselves in a long corridor made of white metal. The floor was littered with more fried corpses covered in soot and ash and burned flesh and in some cases clothing or armor fused into their skin. Seth ignored them as best he could, sweeping the lengthy metal tunnel with as analytical an eye as he could manage. It was hard: the stench was bad, and the metal was a glaring titanium white, making the corpses really stand out. Nova was silent as they made their trek.

It seemed to take ages, but finally they reached the end of the corridor. There were no other doors, no alcoves, nothing but the occasional small vent. The door stood open, almost as if inviting them in. Beyond its threshold lay some kind of laboratory. The right wall was lined with examination bays, each holding a table with an orbit of equipment, each table holding a dead terentatek...clone? Mutation? Replica?

Whatever they were, it was obvious a lot of thought and effort had gone into their creation. How long had they been here, doing this? Weeks? Months, probably. It was a decently extensive operation. Along the left wall were high-tech workstations, very likely where they processed, examined, and tweaked the data they received from their experiments. Wanting desperately to get this over with, to be done with it and completely wash his hands of this misery, Seth began to check the place over while Nova stood guard by the door.

He checked every nook and cranny, and tried a few of the workstations, but they had all been fried in the purge as well. As he suspected, there was nothing left for them here. Nothing alive, no information, nothing useful. He and Nova moved back towards Maya, who maintained her stance, staring intently at the door ahead of them, then passed by her, moving down the opposite corridor. The only good thing about it was that the search there was just as uneventful and went by just as quickly, and soon, they rejoined her.

"Nothing?" she asked quietly.

"Nothing," Seth confirmed.

"Then now we must face the darkness that lies beyond this doorway. Whatever it is, it is tremendously evil, saturated in the Dark Side. I believe the terentatek we seek is on the other side of this door, but...there could be more. Both of you must be prepared to fight and fight very hard...are you?" she asked, her voice low.

Her gaze never wavered from the door ahead of them, as if she could see through it.

"I'm ready," Seth said.

"Yep," Nova replied tightly.

"Good...let us face this."

Maya walked forward and drew her lightsaber. She ignited it, then reached out and pressed the open button. Seth gave her this: she didn't hesitate. Maya was a very brave woman. He found himself hoping, desperately, that they were stronger than whatever was in the room beyond. The door slowly slid open.

Darkness lay like a haze across the room ahead, and the light from behind them seemed to do little to push it back.

Slowly, very slowly, the trio walked a few paces into the room.

Something very big, very heavy, took a step, somewhere else in the room. The sound of its foot hitting the floor was loud.

Seth became aware of heavy breathing. Animalistic breathing.

A terentatek. The real deal.

He caught a hint of light glinting off of one huge tusk, deeper into the room, to their right. The blue light of Maya's lightsaber helped push back the darkness, but not by much.

Suddenly, the sound of another saber igniting came at them, and a brilliant red light burst into being to their left.

Seth's heart began to beat harder and faster in his chest, and ice began to gather in his guts.

"You are in my lair now," a deep voice intoned. "You should not have come here, Jedi."

"I had no choice," Maya replied, and her voice was dead calm.

"I suppose you have a point," the Dark Jedi said. "We are drawn to each other, yes? One must triumph. It is the nature of the Force. The terminator is where the dark meets the light, and the terminus is an end. Whose end is it?"

"Let us see," Maya replied.

"Let's," the Dark Jedi agreed.

Abruptly, brilliant lights flared to life. Seth grunted and winced, fighting to study the area around them for new threats. But as his vision returned, he saw that they were in a large, curved, vault-like room. And there was only the Dark Jedi and the terentatek. Nothing else, save for some cages and restraining equipment along the periphery of the room. Well, at least this was going to be a decently straightforward fight.

"I will take the Dark Jedi," Maya said quietly. "You two take the terentatek."

"Whoever finishes first helps the other," Seth replied, and Maya murmured in agreement.

She began walking forward calmly, her saber held out. Seth and Nova took aim at the terentatek, which shifted its massive, ponderous bulk, then raised its hands and flexed its utterly massive claws, staring at them with alien, malignant eyes.

This was going to be tough.

He charged up his rifle as much as he could and quickly ran over what he had on him: his blaster, his pistol, a knife, his sword, and just two spare energy clips.

"You got any grenades left?" he asked quietly.

The terentatek began to walk towards them.

"No," Nova replied.

"Crap."

"Yep."

As it started to speed up, trundling towards them, Seth released the overcharged shot and aimed right for its head. Nova did the same thing. Both shots converged and hit it in its ugly face. The creature stumbled to a halt, shook its head, then began coming towards them again. Off to the left, he heard two lightsabers clash together and saw a bright flash, but he ignored it for now. Maya had her battle, he had his. Any hesitation or distraction could get him killed.

Or worse, Nova.

The floor literally shook with its approach as it began barreling towards them. Both of them opened fire, pouring as much blaster fire into the huge thing as they could. Seth's mind worked furiously as each of them sidestepped, then leaped out of the way as it came right at them and almost crashed into them.

"Keep your distance!" he snapped.

Was there something he wasn't seeing? Some quick way out of this? So far, the only other time he'd actually fought a terentatek, he'd used Maya's lightsaber to kill it, and that had probably been luck more than anything else. And that clearly wasn't happening again. Although maybe that was a weak point, the back of its head. It made enough sense.

"Nova, go for the back of the head!" he said.

"Got it!" she replied.

Despite this extremely tentative optimism at finding some kind of weak point, Seth conceded to himself that this was going to be a long, hard, brutal fight.

The creature hesitated briefly, then turned and began going after Nova. Great, this was going to be dangerous. Any time either of them got a shot, it would be at the cost of potentially shooting each other, since the beast would be facing directly towards them. Then again, it was pretty big, pretty hard to miss. He aimed carefully and released a burst of fire at the terentatek. The bolts nailed it in the back of its big, misshapen head and he didn't know how much damage it actually did, but it at least got the thing's attention.

The terentatek turned around, roared at him, and began charging.

Nova aimed and fired, hitting it in the back of the head with another barrage of bolts.

The terentatek stumbled to a halt, turned around, roared furiously, and began charging at her.

Seth grinned, aimed, and fired again, putting another slew of bolts into it. The terentatek repeated its actions and turned to face him, and as he backed up, Seth began to charge up an overcharged shot. Maybe they might actually manage to kill it this way. Unfortunately, they only managed this back-and-forth game another few rounds before the terentatek finally picked up on it and instead of turning around when Nova shot it in the back of the head again, it just kept charging right for Seth. The combination of his surprise and how fast the thing could move for its size and odd shape meant that it managed to swipe at him and actually connect.

He screamed as he was thrown off his feet and two fresh, burning, agonizing lines of pain were ripped across his chest as the claws got through his armor. He heard Nova yelled his name and a fresh burst of blaster fire. Seth rolled, or tried to, and managed not to get stomped on. He staggered to his feet and then stumbled away, fighting to clear his head as the pain began eating into him like acid into metal. He hosed the terentatek down with the remainder of the energy in his clip as he backed away, trying to lead it deeper into the area and hopefully give Nova a good shot at it. He was hurt now, and that was going to make this harder.

And that wasn't even considering the fact that they still had a damned Dark Jedi to worry about. That battle was still raging on, lightsabers clashing again and again. But he had to stay focused on this battle. He could feel blood seeping out of his wounds and knew he had to end this quickly. But how could they!? It seemed to be moving slower now, and Nova shouted to him that it was bleeding from the back of its skull, but how close was it to death? The thing was _so_ durable and its endurance was off the charts.

Seth finished off the remainder of the energy in his rifle and hastily reloaded his second-to-last clip, then resumed fire. For the next several minutes, he and Nova played keep-away from the huge beast, but it was _fast_! He always found himself narrowly avoiding getting ripped open or outright shredded by its enormous claws. Maybe it was that he was getting slower. He was still bleeding, and all this movement wasn't helping his wounds.

And then, after several more minutes, the terentatek rushed him and cut his rifle right in two with one of its huge claws. He yelled in shock and fell back, both halves of the weapon flying from his grasp. Seth scrambled to get away from the creature and ended up back near Nova, panting.

"What are we going to do?! This thing isn't going down!" she snapped.

Seth had been thinking desperately for a way out of this, because he wasn't sure they could outlast it through sheer strength alone. He pulled out his pistol and began to overcharge it. If only he had a grenade! He could get it into the thing's mouth and maybe that would be enough to put it down, but he didn't _have_ a damned grenade. Neither of them did. So what was he to do? Seth found himself turning back to an old axiom of combat and survival…

Adapt.

But how could he adapt? He and Nova were keeping their distance from the thing. Suddenly, the pistol began to vibrate and whine in his hand, and he looked down. His overcharged shot! He aimed, finger tightening on the trigger…

Then he hesitated.

Suddenly, an idea came to him.

"Nova! Give me your spare clips!" he screamed, hurrying over to her.

She didn't question him, instead reaching into her pocket and passing him two spare energy clips. "Keep it busy!" he snapped, and then turned and sprinted away.

He heard her open fire as the terentatek charged towards her. He was going to have to do this _fast_. Seth ripped his medical kit free of his belt and dropped to one knee. Tearing it open, he dumped it out and then found some medical tape. He hastily taped his final energy clip and Nova's two clips to the sides of the pistol, which was painfully hot now. As soon as it was done, he stood up and began sprinting towards the terentatek.

"Get away from it! Get clear of it!" he screamed, charging directly at it.

She ran away and the terentatek went after her. Seth got in its path and prepared himself.

He was only going to get one shot.

It barreled towards him.

It roared.

Time slowed.

Seth pulled back and then hurled the violently trembling blaster pistol with all his might, directly towards its massive, shrieking maw. The gun sailed through the air and disappeared into its mouth, right in between its big, jagged, bloody teeth.

He turned and ran.

Seth made it about three steps before a muffled but powerful explosion that sent him stumbling forwards occurred. He managed to remain on his feet, and as soon as he was stable, he turned back around and drew his sword, just in case.

There was no need, at least not immediately: the terentatek's head had been blown completely off. Now its headless body was stumbling around, fountaining a geyser of dark blood, and it was quite the sight to behold. He heard Nova laughing wildly.

"I can't believe you did that!" she cried.

The terentatek corpse slammed to the floor with a tremendous thud, and for just about two seconds, Seth felt that immense elation of pure triumph. The kind that seizes you and uplifts you when you overcome some horrendously powerful difficulty.

And then it terminated abruptly as he saw, deeper into the room, the Dark Jedi gesture sharply at Maya and send her flying backwards, right off her feet. She landed with a loud cry of pain on the floor and began struggling to her feet.

"Get a clean shot!" Seth yelled as he took off.

Well, that was half the battle out of the way, but none of it would matter if they didn't kill this Dark Jedi, and the fact that Maya had yet to do so was a really bad sign. From the glimpses Seth had managed to get of their fight during his own, the guy looked like he knew his stuff. Honestly, he'd feel more comfortable fighting a second terentatek.

"We're coming, Maya!" he called as she regained her feet.

He glanced at her and didn't like what he saw: she looked exhausted. She also had a few burn marks from where the Dark Jedi's lightsaber had gotten too close for comfort.

"Be careful and try not to get in my way," she replied.

"Got it," Seth said, and joined her in combat.

The Dark Jedi said nothing, regarding them with a flat, grim expression. He and Maya slowly advanced on him. He held his blade tightly, looking for a weakness in the man's stance. There didn't appear to be any. This was going to be _very_ difficult. Two on one usually tipped the odds in your favor if you were part of the two, but if the guy was good enough…

They came within range of him, splitting apart, Maya going to his left, Seth to his right. He waited for them, as still as a statue, red lightsaber held firmly in hand. For a moment, the three of them stood there, rigid, each waiting for the other to make a move first.

And then Nova fired an overcharged shot.

The Dark Jedi moved like lightning, deflecting the bolt back at her. At the same moment, Maya and Seth dove forward. Maya attempted to drive her blade into him as Seth took two quick steps forward and slashed at him.

The Dark Jedi stepped back, avoiding Maya's saber, and smashed aside Seth's sword with his own red-lit blade so hard that it nearly threw the sword from his grasp. Seth recovered and then launched a quick counterattack. His blade was pretty heavily tempered, meant to stand up to a lot, but he knew he was at the losing proposition. The Dark Jedi's sword was made of energy, Seth's was made of metal. There was a clear victor in that battle, and really he just knew that he was buying time for Maya to get in and do something good.

As they fought, blades crashing together again and again, Maya sliced at the Dark Jedi's back, and he winced even as he stepped forward and drove Seth back a step. She hadn't gotten him, but he thought maybe she had gotten through the back of his robe and uncomfortably close to his skin, maybe even singeing him a bit. Seth drove his own attack, but suddenly the Dark Jedi gestured sharply with his palm flattened directly at him, and Seth felt a wave of invisible but solid energy slam into him and send him flying back a few feet.

He heard Nova opening fire, trying to get a shot in, as he hit the floor and groaned. His chest was on fire now and he was losing more blood. There was no time, there was never enough time. Seth surged to his feet, adrenaline screaming through his head, and charged forward. He drove the tip of his blade into the Sith bastard's back and saw that Maya had indeed managed to slice through his robe. At the last second, the Dark Jedi brought his blade around in a tight arc and bashed Seth's blade aside, then he dropped down, narrowly avoiding Maya's own blade, and performed a perfect leg-sweep maneuver on Seth, downing him once more.

He then sent Maya flying with another Force blast and turned back to Seth. Raising his lightsaber, the Dark Jedi deflected a bolt at Nova, and he heard her cry out in pain, and then the Sith brought the blade down on Seth. He barely managed to get his own up in time, laying on his back now, and the saber crackled as it slammed into his own metal blade. The Sith brought his blade up and then down once again, smashing into Seth's own blade. Sparks flew and Seth felt his whole body jerk in response to the impact.

The Sith began to repeat this process, rapidly smashing the blade down again and again. He gestured sharply once at Maya as she ran up to him and although she managed to sidestep a little this time, it still sent her spinning off. Seth tried to attack in that instant, but the Dark Jedi whirled his blade back around and then smashed it once more into Seth's sword.

This time, his blade gave up the ghost, and broke in half.

The break was so surprising and the force of the blow so powerful, the remainder of the blade was thrown from his hands and all of a sudden Seth realized that he was down to his knife. Literally just his knife. He rolled away, gritting his teeth at the agony of his chest wounds, and drew his knife as he got back to his feet.

Something came to him then, as he saw the Dark Jedi and Maya dueling, lightsabers clashing, sparks flying furiously.

Seth raised his knife, drew back, and then threw it right for the Dark Jedi's back.

Again, time seemed to slow to a crawl.

He saw the knife, sailing through the air.

He saw the Dark Jedi suddenly lash out and punch Maya in the face, sending her stumbling back a step, blood flying from her nose.

He saw the Dark Jedi then turn around and _snatch the knife out of the air_ , then _throw it back at him_ all in one smooth motion.

He saw the knife, sailing his way.

And Seth threw himself aside, and felt a fresh burst of agony hit him as the knife cut across his cheek, then continued on past him.

And then two things happened at the same time.

Maya recovered far more quickly than the Dark Jedi anticipated, and she slashed out with her saber in a shockingly agile attack, and cut cleanly through his neck.

Behind him, he heard Nova scream, and her screams began to turn to gurgles.

Seth felt his entire body go cold and he twisted around.

Nova stood there, her rifle falling from her hands, a knife, the knife he had thrown, was now sticking out of her neck.

She stared at him with huge eyes, alight with terror and pain.

And then she dropped to her knees, blood coursing down her chest, and then she fell onto her back.

" _MAYA! HELP!_ " Seth screamed at the top of his lungs, already sprinting towards Nova.

Panic, bright and white-hot, shrieked through his mind as he ran for her. Suddenly, he was at her side and his entire body was trembling like a low-level current was running through it. He dropped to his knees beside her and he didn't remember actually running to her, but that didn't matter right now, all that mattered was saving her.

He saw the medical kit clipped to her belt, but what were they going to do? The only thing that could save her right now was a damned infirmary and a team of medics, or a Jedi with the Force…

Maya appeared at her other side.

"Oh my...oh Nova," she whispered.

Nova tried to say something, but nothing but blood came out of her mouth. She coughed and winced and reached up for the knife.

" _Don't,_ " Maya said, and she pushed her arms back down.

"Save her," Seth said, panic roaring through him.

"I-I can't, Seth," Maya replied, her eyes stricken and agonized, looking over at him.

"Use the Force! _Save her!_ " he begged.

"I don't have enough left!"

"No! Maya, look at me! _Look at me!_ There has to be _something_ you can do! _THERE HAS TO BE!_ " he demanded.

"I..." She hesitated.

"What?! What is it!? _She's dying!_ " he cried.

"I can take your life energy and use it to fuel my Force powers, but it could kill you, Seth."

"Do it," he replied immediately, looking down at Nova. Her eyes had glazed over now and she wasn't moving, she was hardly breathing.

"Seth, it really could kill you! It _probably_ will!" Maya said, her voice desperate.

"Maya, do it," he replied, looking back up at her, holding her gray eyes with his own. "I don't care if it kills me. Do it."

"Seth-"

"Maya," he said, his voice flat, "do whatever it takes to save her, even if it kills me. Do you understand me?"

She stared at him for a few seconds more, torn in indecision, then nodded tightly. "It's been a pleasure, Seth," she whispered. "You're a good man. Whatever you think, whatever you were worried about, please know: you are a good man."

And then she wrapped her hand around his neck.

He seized as she tightened grip, and had to fight the intense urge to break her grasp. He forced himself to relax, and then shuddered violently as a great coldness swept over him. The quality of his panic changed as a new feeling came to him, and he knew this feeling very well.

He was dying.

Seth had come close to dying several times, from a number of things, but he knew that he was feeling what Nova had been feeling before she'd passed out. That seeping feeling of life leaving you, draining out of you, almost as if being drawn out of you. Which, in this case, it was. He grew colder, he grew weaker, his thoughts rapidly began to decay, becoming sluggish and lethargic. He stared at Maya, who now had her eyes closed in concentration.

She seemed to draw the life out of him for a long time.

When her hand left him, it was like his strings had been cut, and he physically could not hold himself up any longer.

His last act was to make sure he did not fall onto Nova. He collapsed onto his back beside her, and he heard Maya begin to murmur quietly.

Things became more confused after that.

He slipped in and out of consciousness, and each time he came awake again, it seemed that he was colder, and it was more difficult to draw breath.

And the last time he opened his eyes, with darkness boiling around the edges of his vision, he saw Maya crouching over him.

He tried to ask how Nova was, but he couldn't even move his eyes.

"She'll live, Seth," Maya said.

He thought he smiled, but it might only have been a dream.

And Seth closed his eyes one more time, and the darkness consumed him.


	44. Epilogue

Seth Kast opened his eyes.

For several seconds, he was struck by an incredibly powerful and incredibly bizarre sensation: the sensation that he could not remember where he was, nor why he was waking up, but that this particular scenario had played out several times in the recent past.

Something was beeping softly nearby, it was a steady and oddly comforting sound.

He tried to speak, but his throat was too dry.

Seth blinked several times and surveyed his surroundings. He felt like he was in danger...or had been in danger very recently. But had that danger passed? All he could see was a ceiling. He felt very weak, his thoughts slow, but one bubbled to the surface, and it had a frighteningly powerful certainty and conviction behind it.

He was dead.

Was this death? He sure hoped not. He'd kind of been hoping that death was just nothing. That he would just go to sleep and there'd be nothing.

Part of him hoped he wasn't dead, if only because he still had some things he wanted to do.

Seth had the notion that there was something tremendously important he should be attending to, but he didn't know what.

That only made him more anxious.

Seth willed himself to move, willed his muscles to work. It _did_ work, to a certain degree. He managed to raise his head and survey the room he was in. It was an infirmary...no, a patient room at a Republic military facility of some kind.

So, not dead then? Hopefully.

The place looked pretty lived in. His bed was the only one there, but he saw a few chairs arranged in a circle around a small table nearby, and from that alone he could tell several people had been spending regular time in his room. And from the way two chairs were arranged up against the wall, facing each other about three feet apart, he could easily envision someone falling asleep there more than once.

How long had he _been_ here?

Where _was_ here?

He vaguely remembered...Lotus Prime. Yes. The rainy island. The neutron purge. The terentatek. The Dark Jedi…

It was coming back to him now.

And…

Nova. Yes, now he had it. Nova. He had told Maya to sacrifice him for her.

The last thing he remembered, and it was so thin and distant that he thought it might even be a dream, (but prayed that it wasn't), was that Nova was okay.

He heard a door slide quietly open and looked towards it. Nova was stepping in, looking over her shoulder as she reached behind her to quietly slide the glass door shut again, and as she finished and turned back around, she locked eyes with him, and for several seconds, just stared at him.

"Seth?" she whispered.

"Hey, beautiful," he replied weakly.

She laughed disbelievingly and then rushed across the room to him, where she knelt and kissed him hard on the mouth, hugging him. He weakly hugged her and kissed her back, then, as something occurred to him, he gently pushed her away.

"What? What's wrong?" she asked.

"My breath has gotta be the worst in the galaxy right now," he replied.

She laughed and shook her head. "I don't care! Seth, you're awake! I can't believe it!"

"How long was I down?...where are we?" he asked, then coughed weakly.

"Here, let me get you some water," Nova replied.

"Your neck...are you okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine. I'm all healed up thanks to your stupid stunt," Nova replied as she crossed the room. He heard water running, then she returned with a glass of water. She helped him drink from it until the glass was empty.

Seth cleared his throat and came more awake. "Thanks."

"We're still on Lotus Prime. It's been almost three weeks," Nova replied. "Everyone's still here. Everyone's okay. We did it."

"Thank the Force," he muttered. "...wait, three _weeks?_ "

"Yes. You were dead. Like, your heart had stopped, you were dead. It was a _close_ thing, Seth. Maya and I were in such bad condition, but we managed to drag you back up to the control center. It had some emergency medical supplies that we used to at least get your heart going again while screaming for Seri and Yex to get down there and help us. Your heart kept wanting to die, but we kept it going, hitting it again and again. Frankly, it's a miracle that you're still alive and intact. Eventually we got you to the _Dauntless_ , where Seri worked for hours to get you stabilized. Yex flew us to the nearest Republic outpost, that's where we are now. We transferred you once you were stable enough, and there was a team of doctors keeping you alive. Your organs were shutting down. Maya eventually put herself into a three-day coma using the Force to basically bring you back to life, and _that_ finally stopped your body from trying to die."

"And she's okay?" he asked.

"Yes, Seth. She's fine. You'll see her soon enough. But after that, basically, you've been in your own coma for almost three weeks. And...guess what? The war's over!" she cried.

"What?!"

"Okay, well, maybe not _over_ over, but it's basically over! I'm not sure what happened exactly. I've been getting all sorts of rumors. Maya's been trying to cut through the BS. Here's what I do know: the Sith leadership is dead. Darth Malak is dead. It turns out they were using some kind of...I don't really know? They found _something_ somewhere in the galaxy that let them mass-produce ships and droids and weapons at an insane rate. _That's_ why they were doing so well. And the Jedi managed to find and destroy it. The Sith are in retreat or surrendering. Although..." Her smile faded and she looked away for a few seconds.

"What?" he asked, feeling a cold stone settle into his gut. "What happened?"

"Dantooine got hit by an orbital bombardment..."

"No!" he snapped, sitting up.

Nova put her hands on his chest and pushed him back down. "It happened a week ago...I'm sorry. We're all still...dealing with it. The only good news is that all the people we saved from Taris? They're still alive. They're still there, on Dantooine. They didn't get hit. But a lot of people died. The Jedi Enclave got smashed pretty much."

Seth moaned sickly and covered his eyes. Partially from relief, but mostly from horror. He'd seen orbital bombardments, from space and from the ground.

Taris was still fresh in his mind.

"Is there anything else?" he asked finally.

"Not really, nothing big like that. Um...our mission is complete. Officially. We've been paid. You're on sick leave right now, according to paperwork. Everyone's been figuring out where they're going to go from here, but we were all kind of waiting for you to wake up first..."

Seth laid there for several moments in silence, his eyes closed, processing all of this. Finally, after he thought he had it all sorted out, he opened his eyes again. "I need to do things, but before that I need a shower."

"It's gonna be a little bit before you're strong enough to stand long enough for a shower. Not _too_ long, but you need a bit of recovery now that you're up," Nova said.

He sighed. "Then will you help me at least _get_ to the shower? I can just sit or even lay down in it. I need to wash up."

"Yes, dear. I can help you. We can do other things in the shower if you want," she said, favoring him with a small smile.

"So you're worried about me standing up to take a shower, but not about me having sex?"

"It's been three _weeks,_ Seth," she replied curtly, crossing her arms.

"You didn't hook up with anyone while I was down?"

"No, as a matter of fact, I did not."

"Okay. Help me up."

* * *

Seri was the first to see him, and she was angry.

"You should _not_ be up, Seth!" she scolded. "You always do this!"

"I'm sorry! Don't hurt me," he replied, raising his hands from where he sat by the open window. It was a gray day outside. The Republic outpost was a coastal one, on a much larger island, and it rained a lot here, he'd learned. It had rained not too long ago, and he was hoping it would pick back up soon. The breeze that blew in through the window smelled of the sea and pleasant flora.

"He wanted a shower and I figured his bedding could use a change," Nova said.

"You didn't make love, did you?" Seri asked.

"No," Nova lied.

"You're lying! Dammit, Nova, you promised! He's too fragile!"

"I tried to not do him! And he's _not_ too fragile...he's fine."

"You _were_ lying!" Seri snapped.

"Seri, _please_ calm down," Seth said. "We're done, Seri! You don't have to worry! We finished the mission, I'm okay, we all made it out alive!"

She looked at him for a long moment, her arms crossed across her narrow chest, then she let out a watery sigh. "Yes, I suppose you are right. I'm so glad that you are okay, Seth. And you, Nova. Though I've known that for awhile now. But yes...we're all okay." She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "It has been a very stressful time."

"I know. I'm not trying to stress you out," he replied.

"I know, I know..." She walked over, sat down in his lap carefully, and then hugged him gently. "I'm so glad you're okay, Seth."

"Thank you, Seri," he replied. "I missed you, too."

She laughed softly. Then she looked over as Nova finished remaking his bed. She stood up. "Get over onto the bed, I need to run a scan on you."

He sighed and relented. "Okay."

He got back in the bed, which felt pretty good now, actually, and let Seri run her tests. Nova was right about one thing: he was weak. He felt _very_ weak. And he knew it wasn't just being comatose and motionless for three straight weeks, it was everything. All of the events he'd experienced, everything he'd put his body through, how he'd been forced to just keep pushing and pushing and pushing, regardless of how ready he was for it.

But it was over, and he could rest, and recover.

"So, how am I?" Seth asked after Seri had run her tests, examining his body.

"It looks like you are in good health, considering the circumstances we endured, specifically you. And you should make a full recovery. But you're going to need a few more days of rest, and I _mean it_ this time. You are not to leave this room for three days at least, and you are to leave the bed as little as possible, and _you..._ " she said, looking at Nova, "...are to be gentle with him. I know I can't really stop the two of you, you're like gizka during mating season, so...gentle."

"I can do gentle...for now," Nova replied, looking at him.

Seth chuckled, then he reached out for Seri's hand. She took it and sat down on the bed beside him. "How are you?" he asked.

"I'm okay, Seth," she replied, and she smiled at him. "While you were down and I was tending to you, it gave me much time to think. Now that I am free of Taris and the war is coming to a close, I decided that I wanted something very different. I want something...happy."

"Do you know what that is yet?" he asked.

"Yes. I do. I asked Maya for help, and essentially got some strings pulled. I now have a position waiting for me at a hospital on Manaan, to be a doctor."

"That's amazing, Seri. You deserve it," Seth replied.

"Thank you. I believe I do. Now I just need to live up to it."

"Seri, you managed to survive Taris and everything this trip threw at us...you'll do fine," Nova said, and Seth nodded.

"I know. It will be different, though. I'm...going to miss you. All of you. So very much." She stood up. "Now, I need to go find Maya and Yex. They need to know. Especially Maya, she has to leave soon, later today, I think. She's going to be so grateful that she could see you again before then."

"All right. Thanks for letting them know. Uh, how long until you have to go?" Seth replied.

"Technically I don't exactly have a set date, though I am...I wish to leave soon," Seri answered hesitantly.

"Don't let me keep you, Seri. I want you to be happy, wherever that is."

"Okay. I'll, uh...I'll get it figured out."

She left, and Nova sat down on the bed with him. After a bit, he shifted, and she laid down with him, and they simply laid there and held each other. Seth wanted to ask her what her own plans were, but he didn't, because that question might be painful, and he wanted to delay it as much as possible. So they simply laid there in silence until the door opened, and Maya and Yex walked in.

"You're awake!" Maya said, looking uncharacteristically jovial for a Jedi.

" _And you are healthy, according to Seri,_ " Yex said. " _I am very happy._ "

"Yeah, me too," Seth replied, and Maya laughed as she came over. Nova made room, and they each gave him a long hug. "So, uh, Nova updated me on all the big things. Um...Seri said you had to leave soon?"

"Today, yes. In four hours, actually. This is a gift from the Force, honestly. That I was able to talk with you before I had to go." She slowly lost her smile. "I must return to Dantooine. It is...it's very bad there. Very, very bad. Tens of thousands are dead. Malak really just hit the Jedi Enclave and several of the larger settlements. Don't get me wrong, this is stomach-churning tragedy, but it could have been _much_ worse. Some of the Masters survived and they are coordinating relief efforts with the Republic. My own Master, Vrook, has recalled me. There's much to do."

" _And I have volunteered my services there as well. So I will be joining Maya. I imagine there will be much need for someone of my particular skill-set,_ " Yex explained.

"Of that I have no doubt," Maya said.

"You two are going to be invaluable to those people," Seth agreed. "I'm just sorry I can't come with you."

"Could we?" Nova asked.

"Well, you could," Seth replied. "But..." he sighed, shook his head. "I already can tell what's going to happen to me. The fighting is done on Dantooine. I'm a twelve year vet, they're going to want me back on the front lines, cleaning up the Sith."

"I could try and get you transferred..." Maya said.

"No, it's..." he chuckled bitterly. "If I'm being completely honest, it's where I'll want to be. I can already tell."

"I understand," Maya replied. "Well, if you're up for it, I thought we could enjoy a meal and some conversation."

"Yes, please," Seth agreed immediately. "I'm starving. Though we'll have to do it in here. I get the feeling that if I break the perimeter Seri's going to staple me to the bed."

Maya giggled. "You're probably right. Tell you what, I'll go find us some food. Will you help me, Yex?"

" _It would be my pleasure,_ " Yex replied.

Seth watched them go, and Nova climbed back into bed with him, and before he knew it, he'd dozed off into a nap.

* * *

Maya and Yex returned forty five minutes later with some honest-to-goodness food. They'd managed to find some real meals, not just freeze-dried rations. He ended up with local steak and eggs, a healthy supply of both, and they caught up some more between bites. The conversation hardly ceased for the next three hours.

Maya glanced at the clock as the conversation lapsed briefly, and a look of surprise came across her face. "Oh, we have a flight to catch," she said.

"Oh, hey, before you go...what happened to the _Dauntless_?" Seth asked.

"A pilot flew it back to Dantooine. They figured they could use it and it technically belongs to the Jedi now."

"I don't remember agreeing to that," Nova said. "Isn't it fair salvage?"

"You really gonna take it from a bunch of refugees?" Seth asked.

She sighed heavily. "Obviously not."

"And we thank you for your donation," Maya said. "Oh, also, I heard from Jensen and Kato earlier today. They've been in contact ever since I managed to reach out to them and let them know how things turned out. Their situation on Dxun is much improved. They have the outpost running efficiently and have encountered no real problems."

"That's good to know," Seth replied.

"Yes." She paused as she finished gathering her things, then walked over to Seth. He stood up, assuming she wanted a goodbye hug. She placed her hands on his shoulders and looked intently at him. "Seth...do you remember what I told you? When you told me to take your life energy?"

"You said...you told me, whatever else happens, you thought that I was a good man," he replied after a moment.

She smiled and gave her head a little shake. "No, Seth. I didn't say I _thought_ you were, I said you _are_ a good man. And it's true. You're so different now, Seth, from when we first met on Dantooine. You've made so much progress. But here's what I wanted to impart on you: the things that are different about you, your selflessness, your kindness, your tenderness...they have always been there, you just chose to bring them to the forefront. Nurture these aspects of yourself, Seth. And know that you must maintain vigilance. Darkness still resides in you, as it resides in all of us. Let it wither, let it die. Be kind, be loving, nurture these aspects of yourself. You've made a change, but you must choose to keep making it, every day."

"I...okay, Maya. Thank you. For everything," he said.

"You're welcome." She paused, then she smirked. "Well, there was one more thing I wanted to impart." She leaned forward suddenly and pressed her lips against his. She gave him a short but firm kiss, then stepped back. "Come see me sometime, yes?"

"Uh...um...yes," he agreed, unable to keep from grinning like an idiot.

She turned and stepped up to Nova, and then did the exact same thing. Seth's eyebrows raised as he watched the two women kiss. Nova settled her hands on Maya's hips and tried to deepen the kiss, but Maya pulled back.

"Ah-ah," she murmured, "it would be unbecoming of a Jedi."

"Someday," Nova said, looking at once surprised, aroused, and frustrated, her eyes narrowing, "you will make good on that promise."

"Was that a promise I made just now?" Maya teased.

"Oh yes."

"Then I guess, someday, you'll have to come and get it," she said. She glanced at Seth. "Both of you...farewell, friends."

She walked out of the room.

For a few moments, nobody spoke.

Yex stepped forward then. " _I am afraid I have no kisses to offer,_ " he said.

Nova and Seth laughed loudly. "That's okay, Yex," Seth said. "Hugs are fine."

" _I can do that._ " He stepped forward and hugged Seth, then Nova. " _Both of you have been such wonderful friends, and Maya is right. Seth. Nova. Both of you have made changes and watered the seeds of peace, love, and kindness. Let them grow. You, and the galaxy, will be better because of it. I will miss you dearly, and I wish to see you again in the future._ "

"I'll miss you too, Yex. I will come and visit you someday," Seth replied, and Nova agreed warmly.

When he had gone, Seth sat down heavily on the bed.

"Wow," he said.

"Yeah...wow. I've never been kissed by a Jedi," Nova replied, sitting next to him. "That was...interesting."

"Very interesting," Seth agreed.

A moment of silence passed between them.

"Could we, um-"

"Yes, we can," Nova replied immediately, and got up to turn the sliding glass door opaque.

* * *

"So you'll come see me?" Seri asked.

"Of course, Seri," Nova replied, hugging her tightly.

"Yes, Seri. I promise," Seth said when it was his turn to hug her.

They stood in the shadow of a transport, preparing to take Seri and a few others off-world and, in her case, to Manaan. Four days had passed since he had woken up, and he'd been true to his word: he hadn't left that room even once during those days. It had been easy, given the fact that he'd slept through most of it.

When he was awake, mostly he just showered, ate, and spent time with Nova and Seri. He'd talked a few times with Jensen and Kato, and that had been really good. It was good to have friends again, and obviously not to degrade his current relationships, but friends in the military. He was able to connect with them, even lightyears apart, in a way that he couldn't with the others. It wasn't a more powerful connection necessarily, just different.

He had missed it.

It was afternoon of the fourth day and Seri had decided to take her leave. They'd gone for a walk together, the three of them, that had ended at the starport they had on the island.

"By then, I'm sure I'll have connections, and I'll either have a really nice house, or can hook you up with a nice hotel," Seri said.

"Just so long as you're there, I'll be happy," Seth said, and she smiled shyly at him. He cleared his throat. "I wanted to thank you for everything you've done for me, Seri. You literally saved my life more than once, you've watched over me while I was sleeping or comatose, you've been extremely patient with me..."

"Had sex with you," Seri said, and Nova snorted.

"Yes. That. Thank you again for that, it was very nice."

"It was," she agreed. "And you're welcome. For everything. And I wanted to thank you as well. You were very kind and patient with me...please take care of yourself. I honestly don't know how you survived before I came along, given the amount of times I had to save your life."

"Luck, mostly. And a lot of people whose job it was to save my life," Seth replied.

"That makes sense." Behind them, a tone sounded, indicating that the shuttle was just about ready to go. "Okay, I have to go. Good luck, wherever you're going, whatever you're doing."

"You too, Seri," Seth replied.

They hugged again, and then moved away, watching her board the craft. He and Nova left the area, walking hand-in-hand until they were out of the starport. They found a bench that gave a good view of the ocean and sat down beside each other.

The sun felt good and warm, the breeze comfortable and cool.

Neither spoke for several moments.

Finally, Nova broke the silence. "So...what about us, Seth?"

"Well, we've got another...week, maybe week and a half here. That's probably all I can manage before they call me back. And then...I mean, what do you want to do?" he asked.

"I want to stay with you," she said. He looked at her. "What?"

"Nothing, it's just...it's so far from where we were when we first got together."

"I know," she murmured, and she hugged herself suddenly, as though a cold wind had washed over her. "It...scares me. This scares me. Not because of you, but because of me. Maya's right, Seth. Yex and Seri, they're right: you're a _great_ guy. I think you're a lot better than you even realize, than you even think you _can_ be. I look at you and I see this amazing man. I look at you, Seth, and I see..." She hesitated and looked away, and he waited. Finally, she gathered her courage. "I see the man I want to have in my life...for the rest of my life."

"Wow," he said.

"I'm sorry if that's too much...but I feel like I need to say it. Do you feel...I mean, do you think-"

"I feel the same way, Nova," he said. He thought she would look dramatically relieved, but she didn't, and he was pretty sure he knew what was coming next.

"I'm glad. That's good, at least. We're on the same wavelength. And I think we're on the same wavelength about the rest of it, too. I'm terrified I'm going to screw this up, somehow. It's what I do, it's what I've done. I don't want to hurt you. Ever. But I also don't want to walk away from this..." she looked at him beseechingly.

Seth decided it was time to at least try to articulate himself. "Nova," he said, and took her hand again, holding it firmly, staring into her eyes, "I honestly know how you feel. And I think you're a fantastic woman. You're an amazing woman. The most amazing I've ever met, to be honest. I want to do this. I want to be with you. And as for hurting each other...Nova, pain happens when you care. I don't think you'd ever try to hurt me, and I know I would never try to hurt you. And that's enough for me."

"It is? It's that simple?" she asked after a moment.

"Yes. It's that simple. However we move forward, whatever it is we do, I want you to somehow be involved with my life."

She sighed, still looking reluctant. "Seth, I'm...a restless woman. I-I don't know if I could stick around on some Republic base, even if they'd let me, or live in some colony waiting for you-"

"Then don't," Seth said. He laughed. "What, do you honestly think I'd ask you to give up your lifestyle for me?"

"I don't get it...how's it going to work?"

"It'll work because we both want it to, Nova. I'll be in the military, doing my thing. You can come see me. Find a hotel or an apartment in the nearest colony, and I'll come to you as often as I can, and when you get sick of it, leave. We'll always know how to find each other again, Nova. Go be a bounty hunter, or anything else you want to be. We can keep in touch. Eventually, and, I don't really know how much longer it's gonna be, but it's not looking like too long now...I'm going to leave the military," Seth said.

"Tell me you aren't leaving because of me," Nova replied.

"I'm not," he replied. "I'm going to leave because...I'm done. I think I realized that over the past few days. I still have some work to do, I still want to help, but...it's been twelve years. I finally have someone to _go_ to. Something to look forward to. Before, there was no 'get out of the military', there was just the next tour of duty. I've done my duty. It might take three months, it might take a year...but I'm done. And when I get done, we can travel together. We can do whatever it is we want to do...if you're okay with this plan."

"I'm in love with this plan, Seth," Nova replied, and she hugged him suddenly, tightly to her, and he realized she was crying.

He hugged her back, and he realized that he was crying along with her. Only this time, he found that he was shedding tears of joy.

Because something had finally come back into his life, something he had been missing for so long, and now it was truly back.

Hope.

* * *

 _Seth Kast's story will continue. Eventually._


End file.
